Turning Around New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell’S Game Plan for His Gateway City

WHAT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO WITH AN 18-YEAR-OLD CAUGHT WITH A GUN? A WITH CAUGHT 18-YEAR-OLD AN WITH DO TO THINGTHE RIGHT WHAT’S New Bedford Bedford New plan game Jon Mitchell’s Mayor City a Gateway for Turning around Turning POLITICS, IDEAS & CIVIC LIFE IN MASSACHUSETTS POLITICS, commonwealthmagazine.org FALL 2016 $5.00 FALL

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CommonWealth (ISSN pending) is published quarterly by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), 11 Beacon St., Suite 500, Boston, MA 02108. Telephone: 617-742-6800 ext. 109, fax: 617-589-0929. Volume 21, Number 4, Fall 2016. Third Class postage paid at Holliston, MA. To subscribe to CommonWealth, become a Friend of MassINC for $75 per year and receive discounts on MassINC research reports and invitations to MassINC forums and events. Postmaster: Send address changes to Circulation The MENTOR Network is a national Director, MassINC, 11 Beacon St., Suite 500, Boston, MA 02108. Letters to the editor accepted by email at [email protected]. The views expressed in this network of local health and human services publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of MassINC’s providers offering an array of quality, directors, advisors, or staff. CommonWealth is a registered federal trademark.

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The individuals who have joined the MassINC Citizens’ Circle help to ensure that the independent journalism of CommonWealth magazine and nonpartisan research of MassINC continue to raise pressing issues in the public interest, offering a neutral table for civic engagement and public debate.

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FALL 2016 CommonWealth 3 chairman of the board Ann-Ellen Hornidge

board of directors honorary Gregory Torres, ex officio Mitchell Kertzman, David Begelfer founding chairman Andrew Calamare John C. Rennie, in memoriam Neil Chayet Philip Condon Sean Curran Geri Denterlein Mark Erlich Monica Escobar Lowell Pamela Feingold Nick Fyntrilakis Stephanie Anderson Garrett Lane Glenn Thomas Green Harold Hestnes Tripp Jones Juliette Kayyem William P. McDermott Jennifer Nassour Eileen O’Connor Thomas Pappas Dean Richlin Kenneth Robinson Mark Robinson Paul Scanlon Richard Tisei Eric Turner Lisa Wong

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R Cert no. SCS-COC-001366 volume 21, number 4 | fall 2016

24 DEPARTMENTS 7 | EDITOR’S NOTE

9 | INQUIRIES

15 | ONE ON ONE At age 22, Solomon Goldstein-Rose is poised to claim a House seat. BY LINDA ENERSON

17 | STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT Why Trump’s performance in Massachusetts matters. BY BRENT BENSON

21 | WASHINGTON NOTEBOOK Can Sen. Elizabeth Warren legislate? BY SHAWN ZELLER

DISCUSSION 48 | CONVERSATION New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell offers up a game plan for his Gateway City. BY BRUCE MOHL

59 | PERSPECTIVES The missing piece of education ARTICLES reform. BY EDWARD MOSCOVITCH 4 2 | CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Timothy McManus was Baker’s big move on health care. arrested at 18 for carrying a gun and received the manda- BY JOHN MCDONOUGH tory minimum sentence of 18 months in jail. His story raises 67 | ARGUMENT AND COUNTERPOINT questions about the one-size-fits-all approach to gun Jon Clark, co-director of Brooke Charter Schools, and Richard violations. BY MICHAEL JONAS Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, argue via email about 32 | STATE TRYING TO BE SMARTER LANDLORD The Question 2, which would increase the underfunded, understaffed Department of Conservation number of charter schools. and Recreation is struggling to raise the rent. 71 | BOOK REVIEW BY COLMAN M. HERMAN AND BRUCE MOHL Author Yuval Levin wants us to knit back together the pieces that make up the American dream. REVIEWED BY 0 4 | IS SPRINGFIELD STAGING A REVIVAL? JOHN SCHNEIDER Mayor Dominic Sarno says the changes in his city are more than just smoke and mirrors. BY TED SIEFER

VISIT WWW.COMMONWEALTHMAGAZINE.ORG

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANK CURRAN FALL 2016 CommonWealth 5 His future is bright. We’re working to keep it that way.

With our LifeBridgeSM program, MassMutual offers free life insurance to help cover children’s educational expenses in the event that the covered parent passes away. And over the past 10 years, we’ve provided more than $685 million in free life insurance coverage to families in need. To learn more, visit MassMutual.com/LifeBridge.

PHILANTHROPY + DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION + ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP + ETHICS AND INTEGRITY

MassMutual Financial Group refers to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) and its affiliated companies and sales representatives. Life insurance products issued by MassMutual (Springfield, MA 01111) and its subsidiaries, C.M. Life Insurance Co. and MML Bay State Life Insurance Co. (Enfield, CT 06082). CRN201608-163934 VENDOR RELEASED TO 6 CommonWealth FALL 2016 Vendor: Williams Vendor: Release Date: 9.13.16

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We’re turning 20 massinc, the parent of CommonWealth magazine, turns 20 this year. We’re planning a birthday party on December 1 that we’re calling Serious Fun II and we’re starting to think about what the next 20 years might look manufacturing railcars for the MBTA are under construc- like. I invite you to support our work by attending the tion, is a good example. As Ted Siefer explains, the city is birthday party and offering your suggestions on how to not only attempting to lure jobs to the community, it is build a stronger and better organization. also trying a novel approach to both improving its schools I wasn’t here at the start, but I’ve heard the stories and targeting economic development. about how the founders wanted to create a nonpartisan In Conversation, we interview New Bedford Mayor Jon organization that would address policy issues important Mitchell and learn that his recipe for change in a Gateway to the middle class using research, events, and journalism. City involves a heavy dose of self-reliance. “What I’m try- Over the years, the mission has evolved a bit. Polling has ing to do is convince people that you have your own des- been added to the mix with the creation of the MassINC tiny in your hands,” he says. “As trite as it might sound, if Polling Group. Research is increasingly concentrated on you believe things will get better and are willing to work to the state’s Gateway Cities and criminal justice issues. And, make it happen, it will.” as the news business has shrunk, CommonWealth has Our story on the Department of Conservation and Rec- added a website and broadened its focus to become more reation continues the magazine’s review of how the agency of a daily news outlet. manages the state property it owns. Our story four years This print issue of the magazine reflects CommonWealth’s ago found tenants on state-owned land with lapsed leases statewide focus and its pursuit of stories that the mainstream media rarely cover. Michael Jonas has a very interesting feature on 18-year- Help us chart old Timothy McManus from Dorchester, who is serving 18 the next 20 years. months in prison for possession of a handgun. The story examines McManus’s situation from all angles, but doesn’t and many of them paying little or no rent. It prompted take sides. Through interviews with McManus and others a review by the state auditor and a lot of changes at the with ties to the case, the story acknowledges the need to agency in an attempt to bring its lease-monitoring into the remove guns from the streets while raising questions about 21st Century. Commissioner Leo Roy is now trying to set whether a mandatory minimum sentence for a kid show- the cash-strapped agency on a new course, requiring all ing promise like Timothy makes sense. DCR tenants to pay market or near-market rents. Gateway Cities have long been identified as down-and- There’s a lot more in this issue, from commentary on out urban areas in need of special help from the state, but education reform and charter schools to pieces on whether lately many of the communities are making what appear to Sen. Elizabeth Warren can actually legislate and why Donald be comebacks. The municipalities aren’t growing anywhere Trump’s performance in heavily Democratic Massachusetts near as fast as Boston, but they are exhibiting promising matters. We also have a review of a book on the American signs. Springfield, where an MGM casino and a facility Dream and an interview with Solomon Goldstein-Rose, a 22-year-old recent college graduate who is about to land a seat in the Massachusetts House. Enjoy the magazine, stay involved, and please help us chart the next 20 years.

bruce mohl

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 7 T:7.5”

Our people have always been the ones behind the HERE’S TO continued success of Partners HealthCare. And for the past 24 years, it’s been the people—68,000 strong—who have helped our hospitals rank on the prestigious U.S. News & THE PEOPLE World Report “Best Hospitals Honor Roll.”

WHO POWER This year, in addition to our nationally ranked founding hospitals, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, we congratulate McLean T:10.5” PARTNERS Hospital and the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, which were recognized nationally for their specialties. We HEALTHCARE also extend our congratulations to our neighbors at Beth Israel Deaconess, Tufts Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital for their national recognition.

And as we do every year, we wish to thank our employees for helping lead the way with their achievements. For us, this recognition is always about more than a ranking. It’s about providing the highest quality care, innovating for the future, and ensuring our community continues to thrive.

This is Partners HealthCare. A legacy of knowing what counts in high quality health care.

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital | Cooley Dickinson Hospital Martha’s Vineyard Hospital | McLean Hospital | MGH Institute of Health Professions Nantucket Cottage Hospital | Neighborhood Health Plan | Newton–Wellesley Hospital North Shore Medical Center | Partners Community Physicians Organization Partners HealthCare at Home | Spaulding Rehabilitation Network

8 CommonWealth FALL 2016

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SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: None inquiries Pharmacy school The toughest mile pays chief well > jack sullivan Charles Monahan Jr. makes $1.3 million a year in total compensation, more than all but one of his presidential peers at in 2008, the Patrick administration set out to wire 123 cities and towns in other colleges in Greater Boston. western Massachusetts for broadband. But eight years, 1,200 miles of fiber- Monahan does not work at Harvard optic cable, and nearly $100 million later, the effort has stalled with 44 com- University, MIT, or one of the other big- munities still without high-speed internet. name schools in the area. He’s president The towns that remain essentially disconnected—or, in the words of of the Massachusetts College of Pharm- state officials, “unserved”—represent 12.5 percent of the state’s 351 cit- acy and Health Sciences University, a ies and towns but only 1 percent of the state’s population. Because of the Boston school serving 7,100 students. limited subscriber base and the construction challenges in the wooded and Besides a pharmacy program, the hilly regions, private cable providers have been unwilling to invest in build- school offers degrees in a variety of other ing what is termed “the last mile” to connect homes and businesses to the disciplines including nursing, dental network constructed by the state. hygiene, and public health. Monahan, Peter Larkin, interim executive director of the quasi-public MassTech who has been president of the school for Collaborative, says the “one-size-fits-all” approach that was envisioned at close to 20 years, holds an undergraduate the beginning of the plan assumed that if the state took on the burden degree from the college and ran a phar- of building out the “middle mile,” private companies such as Comcast, macy before assuming the presidency. Charter, and the like would finish off the job. But, he admitted, their finan- Through his spokesman, Monahan cial model would not allow them to provide service to the smaller towns declined requests for an interview. at a low-enough cost that would ensure a sufficient Instead, the school’s Board of Trustees, a subscriber base. which is made up of mostly pharma- critical Larkin says the state, through MassTech’s Massachu- cists, issued a statement saying, “It is the setts Broadband Institute, which was formed to connect trustees’ judgment that the president’s service the unwired west to the world wide web, is stepping compensation is commensurate with his in to provide an additional $45 million—$40 million for towns with no skilled leadership and the resultant sig- high-speed service and $5 million to complete the job in 10 communities nificant achievements of the university deemed “underserved.” The money has rebooted the interest in the pro- and will provide the necessary incentives gram. He says high-speed internet—defined by the FCC as 25 megabytes to retain him in that position.” per second download speed and 3 megabytes per second upload speed—is According to the school’s 2015 tax fil- not a luxury just for the well-heeled, justifying the investment by the state. ing, the latest available, Monahan earned “If you live in those towns, this is a critical service,” says Larkin, a former $1.3 million in salary, benefits, and related state representative from Pittsfield. “This is a critical piece of our evolving compensation. That amount is $152,000 economy and no community should be left behind. These people should more than Harvard pays its president, not be relegated to second-class citizenship because of where they live.” $162,000 more than Northeastern Univ- In 2014, the Legislature authorized the technology bond bill that provided ersity pays its leader, and $387,000 more the money. Earlier this year, Gov. Charlie Baker redefined the broadband ini- than MIT pays its president. tiative to allow more flexibility for communities to complete the “last mile” Only the president of Boston Univer- connections and provided the funds to either build out municipal or regional sity, Robert Brown, earned more than service or attract a private provider who wouldn’t otherwise invest in the proj- Monahan; he makes $153,000 more. ect. The state in August reached an agreement to pay Comcast $4 million to complete the wiring of 10 communities considered “underserved.” > colman m. herman Residents, businesses, and municipal officials agree that high-speed internet

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 9 inquiries should be considered a utility, as necessary for daily living as “If this didn’t happen, I would go back to doing a lot electricity and water. They point to the need for children to less business in a more clunky way,” he says. be able to view homework videos and lessons that require Stan Moss, chairman of the Board of Selectmen in faster service than DSL or cell service and businesses that Princeton, concurs. Moss, who runs an IT service provid- rely on larger and larger files and graphic requirements to er for small businesses, says there have been “inferential” operate on par with their big-city competitors. studies showing population and home value declines in Joe Roy, Jr., and his son Joseph P. Roy run the family- Princeton, which does not have broadband, while con- owned The Floor Store in West Stockbridge and, after nected surrounding towns have experienced increases in years of relying on phone modems and sluggish DSL both areas. service, have finally been brought into the 21st century by Indeed, of the 44 towns defined as “unserved” by the being connected to Charter Communications broadband state, 28 of them lost population between 2010 and 2015, service. The service came after the state agreed in August a period when the state as a whole experienced an increase to pay the private company $1.6 million to connect 440 in population. Moss says, despite Princeton having high- households in West Stockbridge, Lanesborough, and performing schools, it is a struggle to Hinsdale, all in Berkshire County. home attract families who want their children Joe Roy says his business relies “100 percent” on the to be able to compete academically. internet to exchange quotes, designs, measurements, and values “The realtors tell us all the time, the orders. He says with DSL, he would have to use the internet hurt schools tell us that all the time,” says after work hours to download files so as not to gum up the Moss, who worked at the iconic tech company Digital daily business. With broadband, he says he can multitask Equipment Corporation for 20 years before starting PC and download data in a fraction of the time. Wizzards. “Parents would come and be impressed by the

microphilanthropy

A personal form of charity > edward m. murphy

Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of report on the impact of their gift. generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known Professionals who work with fami- needs that could benefit from generosity, even on a small scale. lies know that the line between having a home and not having one is often the explosion of electronic com- table gift has the most meaning when thin. An illness, a layoff, an abusive munication and content sharing have the donor can see the specific conse- boyfriend, or brutal winter weather expanded the ways that charities seek quences of the gift for another indi- resulting in huge utility bills can push donations. They can inexpensively ask vidual. an economically marginal family off for contributions with e-mail and Small Can Be Big is a charity that the cliff into homelessness. Even social media posts soliciting for their solicits small contributions that have a though the government tries to help cause. Donors, in turn, benefit from the big impact on families at risk of home- with housing subsidies, heating, and quick and painless giving enabled by lessness. Its mission is to provide quick other support, sometimes the money the charities’ websites. The interaction and targeted financial assistance to runs out or the rules are too inflexible ends after a few clicks. families identified by one of 15 of to intervene quickly in a crisis. The loss But an innovative Boston area non- Greater Boston’s best regarded social of a place to live can initiate a cycle of profit is working to show that there services agencies. Small Can Be Big trouble. Without a home base, it is are ways to use electronic media to does not itself provide direct services extremely difficult to sustain a job, to create a closer connection between but responds quickly with funds that maintain children in school, or to exe- donors and recipients to the benefit of can keep a struggling family in their cute the myriad details necessary for a both. The organization marries con- home, off the street, out of a shelter, successfully coping family. temporary ways of managing content and out of harm’s way. Donors help a When a small amount of money with the timeless belief that a chari- specific family or person and receive a can stem a crisis and sustain a family

10 CommonWealth FALL 2016 inquiries

DISCONNECTED curriculum but when they hear no internet, we never see them again. It’s frustrating.” At the beginning of September, Princeton was on the verge of asking voters to approve a $3.4 million bond issue to create a municipal broadband service because of the inability to attract a private provider. But just days before the vote, Comcast sent a letter of interest because the state is making $910,000 available to build the “last mile.” Moss, who says the town will entertain applications from other companies as well as Comcast, says he’s happy it looks like Princeton will finally be on par with its neighbors but he’s frustrated it’s taken so long and that it required public money to get private enter- The darker shaded towns are defined as “unserved” by the Massachusetts Broadband Initiative. prises interested.

in their home, Small Can Be Big will cost told her donors: “The best part is specific family. step in. On any given day the organi- being able to breathe again and to Small Can Be Big is lightly staffed. zation’s website will profile the spe- finally grieve my loss.” Another of its features is that 100 per- cific current needs of a family that has Over the past year, Small Can Be Big cent of all donor contributions are been vetted and referred by one on has served as intermediary for funding used for the families in need. No over- the partner agencies. For example, a 124 families with an average grant of head costs are deducted because all parent with stomach cancer couldn’t $1,460. Almost all contributions come such expenses are defrayed by the work for several months, fell behind through the web site and the average Boathouse Group of Waltham, whose on rent, and faced eviction. A mother’s donation is $86.31. Small Can Be Big owner, John Connors, saw the need for automobile engine blew and, if she does not solicit donations from corpo- a new kind of charity when he served didn’t repair it, she couldn’t work. rations or large foundations. A major as a board member of St. Mary’s Center Paying for the repair required deferral part of the organization’s purpose is to in Dorchester, a homeless shelter for of her utility bill resulting in threat- engage individuals and their personal women and their children. ened electric shut off. Another family networks in charitable giving. Rather If you would like to join others to had to pay for the unexpected death than a gift from a company, they seek help a specific family, have an under- expenses of a relative and put them- multiple small gifts from people who standing of what they need, and get a selves at risk of eviction. In each case, believe it is important to help an indi- report about what happened after- Small Can Be Big donors paid the vidual in need. This adds to the mean- wards, you can see who needs help arrears, stabilized the situation, and ing for both the giver and the recipient, today and make a tax deductible con- allowed the family to look forward. something that is enhanced by the tribution through the web site at The woman whose family economics fact that donors receive a follow-up https://www.smallcanbebig.org/ were sent into a spiral by the funeral report on how the funds impacted a

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 11 inquiries

“We were talking informally with Comcast and Charter for a year and half and they weren’t interested,” he says. “Without this money, under normal circumstances, no Drawing a line way would they wire the whole town.” > jack sullivan Under the state’s definition of connectivity, a town is deemed unserved if it has service less than the federal it’s not quite a gang war with combatants brandishing minimum of 25/3 and it is underserved if less than 96 mechanical pencils but there’s a brewing battle over state percent of the community is not connected. Most private regulations that engineering companies say are arcane and providers have a template that requires a density of at outdated but architects insist are necessary for the “health, least 15 homes per road mile with a target of 50 percent safety, and general welfare” of the public, especially for subscriber base to justify the expense. Of the towns that projects involving tax dollars. are unserved, 25 have a population of less than 1,000 Under Massachusetts regulations, only a licensed archi- people, with miles between houses in some areas. tect with “responsible control”—in other words, someone Carolyn Kirk, deputy secretary in the Executive Office who works hands-on with the project from start to fin- of Housing and Economic Development, admits there ish—can sign off on drawings to certify they meet state was a period of “stagnation” in the broadband initiative building codes. from the end of the Patrick administration through the Further, if an engineering company is in charge of the early part of the Baker administration. Much of it, she project, the architect with responsible control must be a admitted, had to do with the reluctance of private com- corporate officer in order to ensure there’s a place for the panies to commit the resources, which spawned the state buck to stop should something go wrong. to pony up more money. “You don’t want to lose personal responsibility,” says “It’s like trying to get electricity to rural America in the John Pesa, a licensed architect and member of the state 1920s,” she says. “Internet service is a fundamental neces- Board of Registration of Architects. “The whole business sity in today’s world.” of safety is people taking responsibility. The corporation

Investing in the community is a gift to us all.

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12 CommonWealth FALL 2016 inquiries

A recent meeting of the state Board of Registration of Architects to discuss proposed regulation changes.

doesn’t have an identity. They literally can get away with killing someone with a bad design. If you lose the personal accountability, it’s game over.” But Abbie Goodman, executive director of the Massa- chusetts chapter of the American Council of Engineering Com-panies, says the regulations were drawn up half a century ago when the architectural and engineering professions were distinct professions. Requiring a corporate officer to be both a licensed architect and a hands-on manager, she says, is a cumbersome burden that could eliminate many qualified companies from bidding on public works projects. “We have some member firms that practice both archi- tecture and engineering, which was a business model that was not contemplated when the first statutes and regulations regarding the practice were promulgated over 50 years ago,” Goodman wrote in an email responsible response. “Those opposed to what we are saying appear to control have a protectionist position.“ is key The architect board is currently fashioning updated reg-ulations and, in September, passed some amendments that reinforced the require- ment for responsible control. But engineering companies are working hard behind the scenes to make changes that would be more favorable. Much of the fight stems from an investigation several years ago into worldwide engineering giant AECOM, which has scores of offices around the globe, including one in Boston. Pesa, a former employee of AECOM, tried unsuc- cessfully through internal channels to force the company to stop falsely representing employees as Massachusetts licensed architects. He then went to state officials to alert them but was told he’d have to file a formal complaint for the state to launch a probe, which he ultimately did. The ensuing investigation by the Division of Pro- fessional Licensure determined AECOM misrepresented four employees as licensed architects. According to records, the probe determined the company had at least 14 public projects, including at the MBTA, Massport, and municipal government level, that were not signed off by licensed

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 13 inquiries architects certifying them as compliant with state code. a lower-level architect handle the project under the “super- Officials at AECOM, who did not return a call to visory and professional control” of corporate officers who the corporate office for comment, passed it off at the can review the work. time, saying the four employees were issued business “The level of detail and knowledge required by the cards—which had the titles “Project Architect” or “Senior definition of responsible control suggests an intimacy Architect”—“through inadvertency and oversight with- with a project that is not practical out intent to circumvent the Commonwealth’s laws.” largest for every officer tasked with oversee- The Board of Registration of Architects, though, saw ing a firm’s business practice,” she it as a more egregious action that compromised public fine says. “Delegation of that responsibil- safety and levied a fine of $75,000, the largest ever for ever ity, with oversight by an officer, will violations of state regulations for architects. lead to better professional results.” John F. Miller, one of the founders of Cambridge- But Miller says that approach has been tried and based HMFH Architects Inc. and chairman of the archi- failed. tect board at the time, said the violations were significant “You can just go to the Big Dig to find evidence of and, though nothing has occurred to date, could have that happening,” he says, citing a 2006 fatality from a potential impacts on public safety because the projects collapsed ceiling panel that was signed off by engineers involved areas paid for and used by the public. who didn’t factor in the requirements for load-bearing “In order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of epoxy. the public, it is crucial that one person has responsible The engineering group “has made a particular point control,” says Miller. “You can’t just have a junior drafts- that the old regulations have been outdated and need to man making a design. You need to have him involved be changed and these are very cumbersome to compa- throughout the process.” nies,” says Miller. “I don’t believe that is the case. It’s the Goodman, the engineering industry group’s executive primary way of ensuring that the design meets the build- director, says the same end can be accomplished by having ing codes and it is done in a safe manner.”

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14 CommonWealth FALL 2016 one on one

Youth movement At 22, Solomon Goldstein-Rose graduated from Brown and is poised to claim a House seat. What’s next on his agenda? Climate change. by linda enerson | photograph by frank curran

the scene: The Amherst town cemetery, sit- tions with very conservative people in the state who ting on a stone wall circling an old burial plot, are fully behind clean energy. Climate change is the not far from Emily Dickinson’s grave. Solomon most serious economic threat to the Commonwealth Goldstein-Rose, who won the Democratic primary and the most serious public health threat in the next for an open Amherst-based House seat and faces few decades, so we need to be treating it as a nonpar- no opposition in November, suggested the graveyard tisan issue. over a busy bagel shop because his soft-spoken voice couldn’t be heard above the restaurant How did you get your start in politics? I clamor. He waves as a cop drives by, looking started when I was 2 months old on a for loitering teens. picket line joining a protest to help end the genocide in Bosnia. I come from a Presuming you’re elected, will you be the political family. My parents are activ- state’s youngest legislator? No. There’s ists. When I was 12, I worked on school a 21-year-old from Cape Cod. He has bus idling. That was my first big proj- a general election challenge, but I think ect. I was working with a group that was he’s likely to win. It seems like there are trying to get the school buses in this more young people running than usual district to turn off their engines when and that’s exciting. There’s going to be they were picking up and dropping off a cohort of us coming in. kids. Ellen Story [the rep he is replacing] had a bill in the Legislature that would Do you feel millennials are under- prohibit idling on school property. We represented in the Legislature? eventually succeeded and then four years People 18 to 29 are 20 percent of eli- later Ellen’s bill finally passed. gible voters and half of the voters in this district, but 2.5 percent of the How much did you spend on your cam- Legislature. It’s pretty much one of the paign? About $25,000. We knew going into this most underrepresented groups you can we were going to have to raise twice as much imagine. It’s not that we would auto- money, have twice as much substance, and matically be better, but we do have a knock on twice as many doors, and that’s what unique voice and perspective. We tend we did. I personally knocked on 3,000 doors. to want to think longer term. A lot of us There are 22,000 voters and we contacted are idealistic. I see those as strengths. 10,000, maybe 12,000, in some way.

Freshman legislators don’t have a lot of Climate change is your top priority? Climate power. What’s your strategy to get some change is the central issue for my generation’s things done? I’m not going in there to be future and the next generation. There are a rabble-rouser. I want to come in, learn many other issues I’m passionate about, but from my colleagues, compromise, and get climate change is the thing. We can do what- smaller, short-term steps done immedi- ever we want in the US, but we’re still going to ately. And then build over time for be hit with the full impact of climate change the larger ideas. I’ve had conversa- unless India and China and other places stop

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 15 one on one emitting carbon pollution. Fossil fuels are lifting billions of that are equally important to learn from schools. We have people out of poverty around the world. If we want to phase no way to measure them now, so they get squashed out of them out, we need something that’s cheaper. Massachusetts the curriculum. Social studies, arts get squashed out of the can be the state that develops clean energy technologies curriculum because they don’t have a test. that are cheaper than fossil fuels. That’s what I want to do, helping to invest in a center at UMass and other colleges When did you graduate from Brown? This May. and tech centers around the state that would develop revolutionary batteries and better solar cells or biofuels. What did you major in? At first I was an engineering student. I thought I was going to do research and development of What about education? The biggest issue is funding. Long, clean energy technologies. Then I took a semester off and long term, what I think we should be doing is reducing or interned at the White House Council on Environmental eliminating property taxes and increasing income taxes Quality. When I got back, I switched from a BS to a BA in in a progressive way. Property taxes are not a good way to engineering and double-majored in engineering and public fund public schools. They are hard for places like Amherst policy. Luckily, I was able to plan a semester of classes that where half our land is untaxable. And poor communities was not overwhelming. So, I focused mostly on the cam- around the state don’t have a lot of tax base, so if they have paign. I did direct a theater production the first week of the underperforming schools, it’s hard to break out of that. semester.

What are your concerns about standardized tests? We You’re a director, not an actor? Well, both. I’m a better should have a test, but it’s the fact that it’s used for high- director than I am an actor or singer, but I like acting and stakes decisions, that it’s used to judge teachers and districts, singing and tech, and so I’ve done a little of everything. that it drives curricula and, most of all, that people feel like Theater feeds my soul. they have to teach to the test. Long term, it would be nice to have a holistic test or evaluation system, something that Will you continue directing plays as a legislator? I hope could get at leadership and communication skills, things so.

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16 CommonWealth FALL 2016 statistically significant

Why Trump’s performance matters in Mass. Clinton is expected to win, but her victory margin could influence legislative races. by brent benson

republican kate campanale stunned the bent. While there are, of course, many other factors state’s political establishment in 2014 by winning that help determine the results in each race (can- the 17th Worcester district House seat, edging out didate quality, voter outreach, etc.), the regression Democrat Douglas Belanger by just 43 votes out of model explains 80 percent of the variation in the 9,750 cast. Campanale will face Democratic chal- margin, making it a statistically useful tool for lenger Moses Dixon on November 8, after Dixon analyzing the relationship between state legislative defeated Belanger in the September 8 Democratic margins and presidential race margins. primary. Campanale is in a stronger position than Massachusetts Democrats have a consistent his- 2014 as a one-term incumbent, but the fate of the tory of supporting Clinton, who won both the 2008 House seat and Campanale may rest on the popu- and 2016 primaries. By contrast, the Massachusetts larity of another Republican, Donald Trump. Republican Party has a love/hate relationship with Popular poll-based presidential voting models Donald Trump—some in the Massachusetts GOP give Hillary Clinton a 99 percent probability of love him, and some hate him. winning Massachusetts and its 11 electoral votes. Moderate Bay State Republicans such as Gov. Yet even though Clinton is the clear favorite, her Charlie Baker, hoping to keep the socially moder- margin of victory in the Bay State may influence the ate and fiscally conservative Northeast Republican outcome of down-ballot races for the Legislature. brand in play, have made a principled stand against A statistical analysis of the 211 contested Trump’s divisive and racist ideology. Tea Party Massachusetts state legislative races in the presi- supporters, such as Rep. Geoff Diehl of Whitman, dential years of 2004, 2008, and 2012 shows that publicly endorse Trump and are working for his a 1 percentage point change up or down in the victory. Much of the Massachusetts GOP establish- presidential margin usually translates into a 0.7- ment supported more mainstream candidates in point change for the candidate of the correspond- the presidential primary, while almost 50 percent ing party in a state legislative race. As a result, a of actual rank-and-file Massachusetts Republican 37-point loss for Trump—on the order of Bill primary voters backed Trump. Clinton’s Massachusetts margin over Bob Dole in The Massachusetts Legislature has 200 mem- 1996—would likely make for a terrible night for bers—160 state representatives and 40 state sena- Republican state legislative candidates. A 24-point tors. There are currently 125 Democrats and 34 loss, on the other hand—the margin of President Republicans in the House (Democrat Garrett Obama’s Massachusetts victory over Mitt Romney Bradley stepped down, leaving a total of 159) and in 2012—would lead to a more typical outcome, as 34 Democrats and 6 Republicans in the Senate. judged by elections since 2004. All 200 seats are up for election every two years. The statistical model used to analyze the 211 While there is an election for every district, many contested state legislative races from 2004, 2008, seats go uncontested. Running a quality campaign and 2012 uses a simple linear regression to pre- for a state legislative seat takes organization, time, dict the Democratic/Republican margin for each and money, and unseating a well-known incumbent state legislative race based on the margin of the can be difficult. presidential race in the district, and an indicator of For the 2016 general election, there are 18 whether the state legislative seat has a Democratic contested races in the Senate and 54 contested incumbent, is open, or has a Republican incum- races in the House, with 128 uncontested seats.

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 17 statistically significant

2016 STATE LEGISLATIVE RACES WITH CLOSE MARGINS

DISTRICT DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN BASELINE PREDICTION House 3rd Barnstable Matthew Patrick David Viera R+7 Senate Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex Kristopher Aleksov Richard Ross R+7 House 2nd Franklin Denise Andrews Susannah Whipps Lee R+4 Senate 2nd Hampden and Hampshire Jerome Parker-O’Grady Donald Humason Jr. R+3 House 1st Essex Brianna Sullivan James Kelcourse R+2 House 17th Worcester Moses Dixon Kate Campanale EVEN House 2nd Barnstable Aaron Kanzer William Crocker Jr. D+5 House 10th Worcester Brian Murray Susan Edmondson D+6 House 4th Worcester Natalie Higgins Thomas Ardinger D+6 House 6th Plymouth Josh Cutler Vince Cogliano D+6 House 12th Plymouth Thomas Calter Peter Boncek D+8 House 4th Plymouth James Cantwell Michael White D+8 Senate Cape and Islands Julian Cyr Anthony Schiavi D+9

Blue indicates incumbency

There are a total of 193 candidates for the 72 contested in the presidential race at the top of the ticket would move races. Eleven of the contested seats are open, without an all of the Republican-leaning races into possible Democratic incumbent running. territory, whereas a 13-point weaker showing by Clinton Rep. Campanale’s district is the race with the highest would put the Democratic-leaning races into striking dis- degree of uncertainty as to outcome—essentially a 50/50 tance for the GOP coin flip—based on the model. The model takes into Reps. Campanale and Kelcourse are facing their first account Campanale’s incumbency and the fact that it is challenge as incumbents, while the rest of the incumbents a presidential election year, bringing a more Democratic- have shown the ability to win multiple challenges in their leaning set of voters to the polls. swing districts. Open seats have historically shown more The table lists addi- volatility. There are three tional state legislative races open House races and one where the predicted mar- open Senate race, the Cape gin between Democrat and Islands seat currently and Republican is small, held by Senator Daniel and where an unexpect- Wolf. All four of these edly larger or smaller open seats are currently margin in the presiden- represented by Democrats tial balloting could easily and would be highly cov- swing the race one way or eted pickups for the GOP. another. The statistical model The baseline predic- raises a troubling dilemma tion is computed using my for Republican politicians regression model, which in Massachusetts: support uses the district’s presiden- the national party’s divi- tial margin and an indicator of whether the seat has a sive nominee and risk damage to the GOP brand, or reject Democrat incumbent, is open, or has a Republican oppo- the nominee and put more down-ballot state legislative nent as variables. I used the district’s average of the presiden- races in jeopardy. tial margin in the last two elections as input for the baseline An average of the Massachusetts presidential election calculation. For example, the average 7-point Democratic polls as of September 1 puts Clinton’s margin over Trump margin that Obama won the House 2nd Franklin district by at 22 points, similar to President Obama’s 24-point win in 2008/2012, maps to a 4-point Republican advantage for over Romney in 2012. If Clinton’s Massachusetts margin Susannah Whipps Lee, when adjusted for the Republican in November ends up in the low twenties, we are likely to incumbency advantage. An increased margin of 10 points end up with a split between Democratic and Republican

18 CommonWealth FALL 2016 ISTOCK GETTY IMAGES statistically significant

winners and losers for the races in the table. However, This might indicate a realization among likely voters that if Trump implodes at the debates and Clinton ends up Trump is not a mainstream candidate. Alternatively, voters with a 30-point margin or greater, we could see many of might be acknowledging the likelihood of a Clinton win the GOP-leaning state legislative districts moving in the and be trying to provide a legislative check to a Clinton Democratic direction. Alternatively, further narrowing presidency by electing Republican members of Congress. of the Clinton/Trump margin would likely lead to more Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are not up for Republican state legislative winners. re-election this year, Massachusetts’s representatives in But what if the measurable relationship between the Congress do not face serious competition this year, and presidential race and state legislative races that has held in Massachusetts voters already have a Republican chief exec- the last three presidential years does not hold in 2016? This utive in Charlie Baker, who may owe some of his victory to voters trying to balance a Democratically- controlled Legislature. The Trump phenomenon But history points to a sticky relationship between the Democratic/Republican margin adds to uncertainty. at the top of the ballot, and those in down- election cycle has already defied most predictions, resulting ballot state legislative races. An unexpectedly big or small in a Republican nominee who has said and done things that margin between Clinton and Trump will likely show would have completely disqualified more typical candidates. itself in the tightly contested state representative and state Trump is historically unpopular and Clinton has her own Senate battles on November 8. approval problems after suffering relentless attacks on her integrity for years. Brent Benson analyzes politics and public policy in Massachu- There are surveys of elections in other states that show setts using a quantitative approach on the Mass. Numbers Republican candidates for the US House and Senate poll- blog (massnumbers.blogspot.com). You can follow him on ing at significantly higher levels than Donald Trump. Twitter @bwbensonjr.

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Can Elizabeth Warren legislate? If Dems do well, she’ll have to put policy ahead of politics. by shawn zeller

during her first four years representing Massa- appetite for bipartisan brokering, but Warren has chusetts in the Senate, Elizabeth Warren has yet to face a real test of her legislative chops. become the chamber’s leading progressive voice. “I’m still fighting for the same things I said I Hillary Clinton considered her for the vice presi- would fight for when I ran for the Senate,” she says dential slot and, while Warren didn’t get it, she’s in a brief interview. Those things, she adds, include become a valued surrogate, with her Twitter war “leveling the playing field for middle class families” with Donald Trump and her ability to rally the and “making sure Wall Street doesn’t roll over the supporters of Clinton’s chief primary opponent, rest of the economy.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, to Clinton’s side. Specifically, she’s talked about wanting to over- But come January, if Democrats do as well in haul the tax code, to eliminate the debt burden on the election as they hope, Warren will face a new college students, and to expand the jurisdiction challenge: Can she shift from progressive lighten- of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ing rod to successful lawmaker? which was her brainchild and which Congress Making the switch will require a significant created in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regula- change in direction. Since the beginning of the cur- tory law. Those are tough sells, even if Democrats rent election cycle—really since the beginning of the are in charge, but Warren says she’s hopeful. “You current Congress in January 2015—she’s focused on don’t get what you don’t fight for,” she says. politics first, and policy second. She’s also keen to raise the minimum wage and It was telling, for example, when Warren told to increase funding for the National Institutes of Boston Globe reporter Annie Linskey in July that Health, which funds basic science research at uni- she was going to “put every ounce of her energy” versities and clinical trials at teaching hospitals. into electing Clinton president and winning a It’s not clear where she plans to go with other Democratic Senate majority. items on her agenda, but they are just as grand: reg- What Warren hasn’t done is demonstrate an ulation of gig economy firms like Uber and Airbnb ability to legislate. If she has designs to fill the role and increased enforcement of antitrust laws. that Ted Kennedy once did for Massachusetts, Republicans don’t believe Warren has either she’ll have to show that she’s able to go on the the ability or the desire to be a true lawmaker. attack, but also do something that’s harder, com- “Her inclination, her history, and temperament promise. And January, when a new president and are much more on the side of advocacy and draw- new Congress are seated, is the best time to do it. ing lines rather than crossing lines,” says Frank Democrats always figured they had a good shot Micciche, who ran then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s at taking back the Senate this year and now they are Washington, D.C., office from 2003 to 2006. thinking the unthinkable, that the House is in play Still, Warren was probably wise to write off the as well. If Democrats complete the sweep, Warren final weeks of the congressional session. By sum- will have a chance to pursue some of the policy mer’s end, the appropriations process had broken goals she’s had to defer while the Republicans have down and Congress had kicked over the final deci- been in charge. On a few issues, she’s shown some sions into a lame duck session that will meet after

ILLUSTRATION BY ALISON SEIFFER FALL 2016 CommonWealth 21 washington notebook

breaks is an example. On her other agenda items, Warren has indicated some flexibility. She’s said she wants an increase in the minimum wage, for instance, but hasn’t insisted that it be any particular number. On college debt, Republicans rejected her effort to reduce interest rates on student loans. The 56-38 vote failed to clear the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster in 2014, even though three Republicans voted for it. But her latest proposal—which would tie an increase in federal funding to the states to their efforts to set affordable tuition rates—sounds more like something Republicans might embrace. It’s a similar formula to the one that led to Kennedy’s deal with President George W. Bush on the 2002 overhaul of K-12 education and Warren says that, like that deal, it will require some give from both parties. the election. Beyond that, the period before a national “We can do it if Republicans admit that we will never election is usually a dead zone for policy. have affordable college without investing more resources Most likely, even if there’s a Democratic tidal wave in education and if Democrats admit that we will never in November’s election, Warren will have to curb her have affordable college without demanding real account- ambitions. No one is giving the Democrats a shot at the ability in exchange for those investments,” she told the filibuster-proof Senate majority they enjoyed for several American Federation of Teachers in introducing the plan months in 2009 and 2010. Unless the Democrats change last year. the filibuster rules, they’ll have to win over Republicans to On NIH funding, Warren turned heads by lining up get anything done. support for her push to increase the government’s fund- In the House, if Democrats pick up the 30 seats they ing for basic research from former House Speaker Newt need for a majority, it’ll be just barely. And the group of Gingrich, a Republican who during his time in Congress moderate, pro-business Democrats will surely grow. championed that cause. So Warren will probably have to cross off her list any Indeed, Warren is capable of reaching across the aisle. expansion of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s “I picked up the phone and I said, ‘Hi, Mr. Speaker. This authority. Warren has broached giving it new powers to is Elizabeth Warren. Do you want to work together on police loans from car dealers, but she’ll have to be happy this?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely,’” she told an audience at with no longer having to fend off GOP attacks. There’s no way Republicans approve an expansion. The other items on Warren’s to-do list are Warren says she can plausible, though it’s unlikely she’ll get anything as far-reaching as she’d like. work with Republicans. Take tax reform. Warren last year laid out her principles the Washington Ideas Festival last year. for an overhaul but they didn’t track the formula that most Warren has found common cause with her Republican reform proponents have suggested could be enacted. colleagues in the Senate, too, on occasion. Last year, they That’s a simplification of the code in which tax breaks helped to pass her bill to require disclosure of the terms go away and rates go down. For Republicans, the changes of settlements that federal agencies reach with corpora- must be revenue neutral. Warren said she would insist that tions accused of violating regulations. any overhaul raise revenue. Warren contends that the deals often give companies Nonetheless, Warren is bullish: “This is an example a pass. Her chief co-sponsor, Republican James Lankford where progressives and conservatives have clear ideas that of Oklahoma, believes that agencies during the Obama differ sharply but where there is a real possibility of move- administration have used settlements to bypass the labo- ment.” rious rulemaking processes they otherwise have to follow, Warren argues that big corporations, and hence and imposed new regulatory burdens on companies. Republicans in Congress, are ready to deal because the In June, Warren teamed with Republican Sen. Steve overseas tax havens that companies use are drying up and Daines of Montana on a bill that would permit companies they’re going to need to bring money back home. The to invest assets in retirement plans that former employees European Union bid to recoup Apple Computer’s Irish tax have left behind and forgotten about, in investments that

22 CommonWealth FALL 2016 PHOTOGRAPH BY ISTOCK/KENNETH WIEDEMANN washington notebook

will bring a higher return, such as target-date mutual the nomination of Antonio Weiss of the bank Lazard to funds or Treasury bonds. a Treasury Department post overseeing domestic finance Such small potatoes bills won’t fire up Warren’s pro- issues. It was an extremely rare instance in which an gressive fans, but they build up goodwill for larger endeav- Obama nomination fell because of Democratic opposi- ors. And they indicate that Warren does have legislative tion. Warren said she objected to the revolving door ambitions. between Wall Street and the Treasury and that Weiss’s Still, it will be easy for Warren to slip into another, more experience didn’t match with the responsibilities of the job. familiar role, that of the progressive pushing the deal- Asked if she’ll continue to block similar Wall Street makers in Congress in a more liberal direction. appointments in a Clinton administration, Warren says, “She’ll call out Hillary Clinton from the left and “yes, yes, yes.” continue to speak out on behalf of the financial interests “She’s the Democratic version of what John McCain of the average American,” says Kenny Ames, a longtime used to be, the senator who is always willing to break with aide to US Rep. Barney Frank when Frank was a senior his party and break with his president,” says the Boston- Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. based pollster Brad Bannon, referencing the Arizona GOP If that’s the case, Warren may prove a deal-breaker, senator. Of course, McCain, in addition to sometimes criti- rather than a deal-maker during a Clinton administra- cizing his GOP colleagues, also cut deals with Democrats. tion. Before the current campaign, Warren had criticized All this speculation about the path Warren will pursue Clinton for her ties to Wall Street and for Bill Clinton’s is predicated on the Democrats winning in November. deregulatory approach to the financial services industry. If they don’t, and it’s President Trump taking office in But Warren says Clinton has run a progressive cam- January with a Republican Congress to work with, expect paign. “My job is to help her get elected with that pro- Warren to continue on as she has for these past several gressive agenda and then to help her enact that progres- months as Trump’s most outspoken critic on the left. And sive agenda,” she says. look for her progressive fans to start urging her, again, to Last year, Warren led the successful effort to derail run for president.

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FALL 2016 CommonWealth 23 Crime and punishment

What’s the right thing to do with an 18-year-old caught with a gun?

BY MICHAEL JONAS | PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK OSTOW

diane mcmanus says her youngest child, p.m. He was stopped by police a block from their Timothy, is “no street kid.” He was “raised in the home just after 1 a.m. on a Saturday morning church,” she says, a respectful son who minded and arrested when they found a loaded handgun the rules she set down, even as a teenager grow- in his jacket. ing up in a rough patch of Dorchester off Blue Today, Tim McManus is nearing the end of Hill Avenue. But while Diane McManus was an 18-month jail sentence—the mandatory mini- out of town in February 2014, visiting an older mum penalty for carrying an unlicensed hand- daughter who was undergoing surgery in South gun in Massachusetts. Nobody thinks teenagers Carolina, Tim defied her orders to be home by 11 should be carrying guns on the streets of Boston.

24 CommonWealth FALL 2016 Entrance to the Essex County House of Correction where Tim McManus is serving his sentence.

And gun violence is a particular plague on neigh- the gun violence in Boston, which is heavily con- borhoods like the one where the McManuses live. centrated in minority neighborhoods like those Jail may be the best—or only—way to deal with along Blue Hill Avenue. They say it’s critical to many of those carrying and shooting guns there. use the available enforcement tools to send a clear But was it the right thing to do in this case? message about illegal guns. Prosecutors say Tim McManus had been Others point to the fact that McManus, a hanging out with known “impact players,” the young black man being raised by a single mother law enforcement term for the small number of in a high-crime area of Boston, had no prior people believed to be responsible for much of criminal convictions and a stable home life. They

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 25 Diane McManus has say he was an outgoing and popular presence at his high been the steady rock in her son’s life. school, but has already been hardened by incarceration. They say he started to turn a corner following his arrest and argue that jail was the wrong answer if the goal is to steer him away from criminal activity and put him on a more positive path. Even the prosecutor first assigned to the case seemed to agree. He had initial discussions with McManus’s lawyer about pleading guilty to lesser charges that would have carried lengthy probation but no jail sentence. In the end, the district attorney’s office rejected the idea. “My position has always been that the way we approach unlicensed carrying of firearms has had an impact on public safety,” says Dan Conley, the longtime Suffolk County district attorney, citing the big drop in firearm violence in Boston over the last two decades. “I don’t make any apolo- gies for strictly enforcing the law.” The imperative to get guns off city streets is a goal shared by law enforcement and community members alike. But it exists alongside another issue that is getting increased attention: Rethinking criminal justice policies that have put many young minority males behind bars at an age when mistakes come easily and incarceration can have lasting negative effects. The gun violence and high incarceration rates are largely occurring in the same areas. That means those who worry about their own safety and that of their neighborhood, like Diane McManus, are sometimes the same people who wind up anguished and angry when a family member is sent to jail in answer to the call for safer streets. handgun loaded with eight bullets. The three others who were with McManus were searched and released. McManus, an 18-year-old high school senior, faced A GUN AND A GRAD a mandatory minimum sentence of a year and a half in On the night of his arrest, Tim McManus was heading jail. The minimum penalty for illegal gun possession was home from a party in his neighborhood. He was walking increased from one year to 18 months by the Legislature in with three other teenagers when they were approached by a 2006 crime bill. McManus’s case went to Suffolk County’s Boston Police Sgt. Thomas Brooks, who got out of his car gun court, a special session established in 2006 by Conley along Blue Hill Avenue. Police had received a call about a to fast-track gun cases in the face of heightened concerns fight at a nearby house party where there was fear that gun about firearms violence. The goal was to minimize the time retaliation might follow. In his arrest report, Brooks said those facing gun charges might be out on bail before trial McManus appeared nervous and was holding the corner of and get cases disposed of within six months, a target that his jacket in a way that made him believe he could be con- the DA’s office says it is meeting. cealing a firearm. Brooks also recognized one of the people Two unusual things then happened. The first was with him as someone connected to an area gang who has that, for a variety of reasons, the case got delayed several been present at “firearm incidents” and had himself been times and it was nearly a year and half after his arrest previously shot. that McManus finally went to trial. The second was that As he was talking to the group, Brooks said he inten- after he was released on $1,500 bail, McManus made it tionally tapped McManus’s belt area in order to gauge his through the whole time before his trial—a period roughly reaction. When McManus “tensed” and turned away, his equal to the minimum jail sentence he was facing—with- suspicions rose considerably. Once backup officers arrived, out getting into any trouble with the law. Brooks said he reached and felt the outline of a gun in He was placed on pretrial probation wearing a GPS McManus’s jacket. He was searched, handcuffed, and monitoring device that tracked his whereabouts and put arrested for illegal possession of a .22-caliber Walther P22 under strict curfew orders. He was to return to high school

26 CommonWealth FALL 2016 bracelet, cap, and gown, McManus received his diploma. He immediately entered a job-training program run by Youth Options Unlimited, a city-affiliated agency that works with court-involved youth. He ended up working on construction projects where he learned drywalling and other carpentry skills. “He did well with our program,” says Andrew DeAngelo, who was McManus’s case worker. “He was very respectful. He accepted constructive criticism well.” As for his construction skills, DeAngelo says, McManus “has a knack for working with his hands.” Officials at the program were also struck by how sup- portive Diane McManus was. At one point, Tim was working at a job site near their home. “She would make lunch not only for Timothy every day, but because they were working right next door, she would make it for everyone. I would show up and the whole team was having Thanksgiving din- ner,” says Freddie Velez, a manager at the program. “You could see there was this level of love and caring for Timothy that you don’t always see in families.” Diane McManus has been the one steady presence in Tim McManus’s life. He is the youngest of eight children. His parents split up when he was young, and his mother says she raised him in a house where her word was second only to God’s. After his arrest, she did whatever it took to make sure he was home by the 3 p.m. curfew. School got out at 2:15, but if there were delays with the bus he caught, she would jump in her car and rush there to get him. “Sometimes I would say just get in a cab and I’ll pay it when you get classes, be home each day by 3 p.m., and not leave his here,” she says. “I was under so much pressure.” house before 5 a.m. The only time the GPS tracker went off, “He finished high school under house arrest,” says Diane says his lawyer, was one time that it malfunctioned. McManus “He never violated. He didn’t do anything. He School never came easy to McManus. He spent eight kept curfew, and, remember, he was only 18 years old. Young years at a Boston public school for students with learning men, they don’t pay attention to laws and regulations.” and emotional issues before transferring in 11th grade to Dorchester Academy, a troubled district high school. He A CLOSE CALL? Alex Welsh, the public defender who represented McManus, ‘I don’t think was determined to try to spare him from serving time in jail. Between completing high school, starting job training, and anybody thought abiding by the stringent court-imposed curfew, he thought it was clear that McManus was trying to turn things around. he was going to And he was convinced that jail would only set back those efforts and increase the chances of McManus heading back graduate.’ down the wrong path. Welsh’s efforts nearly paid off. “I was talking to the DA’s office the whole time and needed to pass just two courses during the semester following saying, look, watch this kid, watch what he’s doing,” Welsh his arrest in order to graduate, but that seemed no sure bet. says of McManus’s extended time on pretrial probation. “I don’t think anybody thought he was going to gradu- By late 2014, the prosecutor handling the case, Peter ate, especially after the charge, with all the stress and every- Pasciucco, who was chief of the DA’s gun court session, thing,” says Olivia DuBois, a social worker at Dorchester seemed won over. In December, Pasciucco filed a motion Academy who worked closely with McManus. But he com- to delay an upcoming court date in the case. “The pleted the classes and, in June 2014, wearing a GPS ankle Commonwealth and defense are working toward a resolu-

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 27 tion/proposal that will not include mandatory jail time,” he wrote. “The Commonwealth is not prepared to make an offer yet but will be once additional information is o bt ai n e d .” Welsh says he also spoke to Tommy Brooks, the Boston police sergeant who arrested McManus. He says Brooks was impressed by how well McManus was doing and agreed with the plan. “He was on board with not giving him a committed sentence,” says Welsh. When the case was ultimately reviewed by higher-ups in the district attorney’s office, however, they rejected the idea of “breaking down” the charges to something that did not carry mandatory jail time. Jake Wark, a spokesman for the office, says several factors played into that decision, including the fact McManus A high school graduate — was with a known “impact player” when he was arrested with a court date pending. and was also with a known gang member when stopped and questioned by police several months earlier. McManus had one other brush with law: He was facing charges in connection with an assault on an older man in a downtown lence about individuals not being held Boston subway station. That case was ultimately dismissed; accountable for carrying firearms,” he says. “When you McManus says he intervened to try to stop the fight. talk to crime victims and you talk to neighborhood groups, Wark says prosecutors also worry about the message they really want police and prosecutors not to be heavy it would send to go easy on a defendant without a seri- handed, but to enforce the law and make their neighbor- ous criminal background who could be holding a gun hood safe.” for someone with a long record. “He’s making very bad Conley says the various gun charges McManus origi- choices in terms of the company he’s keeping,” Wark says nally faced, including carrying a gun with a defaced serial of McManus. “You can envision a circumstance in which number, could have totaled 12½ years in prison if pros- a young person might be in fear of violence and choose ecutors sought and won the maximum sentences. “We to pick up a gun, acting out of that fear. That just does not exercised an awful lot of discretion beneficial to him,” seem to be the case here. It seems that he is among the says Conley. groups that are causing fear.” Pasciucco, the chief gun court prosecutor originally Diane McManus thinks her son was scared. She says assigned to the case, says McManus’s case was one of a he had come home in the months before his arrest with very small number where the district attorney’s office con- a black eye and another time with a bloodied mouth. sidered lowering gun charges to something not requiring a When she questioned him, she says he chalked it up to mandatory minimum jail sentence. “That was a close call “play fighting.” as to whether it was going to be broken down or not,” he Why Tim McManus was carrying a gun is not easy says. He says he agreed in the end with his supervisors’ call to answer. One reason the trial was delayed is that his not to do so because of concerns about who McManus was attorney sought to suppress introduction of the gun spending time with. as evidence, arguing that the street corner search that “I would absolutely characterize it as a dilemma that produced it was not lawful. His motion was denied, but I faced as a prosecutor,” says Pasciucco, who is now in McManus has taken his case to the state Appeals Court, private practice. “If you don’t enforce the 18-month sen- which has not yet ruled on the petition. Because of the tence, you send the wrong message to the neighborhood pending appeal, Welsh would not discuss specific facts of that illegal gun possession and gun violence aren’t being the case and advised McManus not to as well. (McManus taken seriously. But you also have to weigh each case. Is is likely to be out of jail before a ruling on his appeal, but this person going to be better off if they’re given straight if he prevails it would mean erasing a felony gun convic- probation and certain conditions are attached to it?” tion from his record.) For his part, Conley, the Suffolk County district attorney, says the community has demanded aggressive pros- NO DENYING ecution of gun cases, and his office has responded. “There Young people carrying guns, even if it’s for protection was real concern in the communities hit hardest by vio- and they’re not intent on using them, represent one of the

28 CommonWealth FALL 2016 PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF OLIVIA DUBOIS biggest threats to safety in city neighborhoods. “There is the Legislature to decide whether changes to the system no one who doesn’t understand how dangerous a loaded are in order, he says. The state is currently carrying out a handgun is,” says Wark, the DA’s spokesman. “It’s one comprehensive review of criminal justice policies, with insult away from a shooting.” reform proposals expected early next year. “There is no Diane McManus understands that as well as anyone. mandatory on the books that I would exclude from scru- She says a young woman she used to babysit for was tiny,” says Brownsberger, though it’s a position that would shot to death only blocks from their house, just one of face considerable opposition. the many victims of gun violence she can tick off in her Rev. Jeffrey Brown was a cofounder of Boston’s nation- neighborhood. Sitting at her dining table on a Saturday ally-recognized Ten Point Coalition, formed in the early afternoon, she says she hates guns and nearly fainted in 1990s to combat rising youth violence. Community-based court when the weapon her son was charged with carry- efforts, together with a focused anti-violence strategy ing was presented as evidence. She takes a deep breath employed by police, helped drive a dramatic decrease in and then adds something that it clearly pains her say. the city’s homicide rate and gun violence. The key, Brown “I’m kind of one part glad that it happened the way it says, has been to reserve the system’s harshest response for did because who’s to say if Officer Brooks wouldn’t have those responsible for the violence, while doing as much stopped him that night he wouldn’t have went out the as possible to redirect others on the edge of trouble down next night and shot somebody?” she says. “Oh, believe more productive paths. me, I’m not in denial. I’ve had to face all this.” “I have lived that tension for the better part of a As her comment underscores, the issue isn’t whether couple of decades,” says Brown. “We all want to see less to take a hard line against illegal guns, but whether more guns and less guns in the hands of young people in our discretion should be exercised in deciding what to do community.” At the same time, he says, incarceration can with someone caught with one in a case like this. also “increase the chances for someone to come out of “At the end of the day, what do you want him to do? the criminal justice system a hardened criminal when, if Turn his life around, right? Get off the streets. He did given a chance, he might have gone the other way.” that. And then you still send him to jail,” says DuBois, the “It’s a conundrum,” says Emmett Folgert, longtime social worker from Tim McManus’s high school who now director the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, which works to divert high-risk teens from gangs and the criminal justice system. “Pulling guns off ‘Communities hit hardest the street is keeping our murder rate down,” he says. Folgert also thinks gang members are by violence want people aware of the mandatory 18-month sentence and are carrying guns less frequently because held accountable for of it. Tim McManus’s case finally came to trial in carrying guns.’ July 2015, but there was not a lot of suspense. McManus waived his right to a jury trial. works with Welsh at the state public defender’s office in Brooks, the Boston police sergeant who seized the gun Roxbury. “It doesn’t make any sense.” from him, was the only witness from the 1 a.m. street Sen. Will Brownsberger, cochairman of the Legislature’s corner encounter who took the stand. As soon as the brief Judiciary Committee, says the questions the criminal jus- closing arguments were done, Boston Municipal Court tice system should be asking are, “What does it take to Judge Catherine Byrne pronounced McManus guilty. send a message? What does it take to change behavior?” “As you know, my options as the judge are very limited Jail “doesn’t have a good influence on people and we’re in terms of the sentencing,” Byrne said to the courtroom, doing harm when we keep people there any longer than a reference to the mandatory minimum sentencing stat- we need to,” he says. “You have a lot of people coming ute. She said she “take[s] very seriously” all of the letters out who have lost their sense of how to function in a submitted that attested to how well McManus had done community, how to accommodate themselves to a job on pretrial probation, “which are the sort of things I environment, how to maintain relationships.” would consider at sentencing. Unfortunately, I can’t do Brownsberger says he doesn’t necessarily fault pros- anything less than what the law requires.” ecutors, however, for using the mandatory minimum She imposed the mandatory minimum 18-month jail sentencing system that lawmakers have put in place. “If sentence plus one year of probation following his release. they deviate from those policies and things go wrong, McManus was taken from the courtroom to begin his they’re going to bear a heavy burden,” he says. It’s up to sentence at the South Bay House of Correction in Boston.

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 29 “It’s a really crucial period in a kid’s life,” Welsh says of a short attention span. I need something to grab my atten- the time his client has been in jail, an age at which other tion. If I’m thinking about the outside world, it’s really just young people are off finding themselves at college. “They money. Money and females,” he says, the one time he offers are developing a lot. There are a lot of patterns that are a small grin. going to be permanent. And he’s learning them in a place McManus says he’s well aware of the cycle of those who that is really violent. He’s surrounded by people who are end up in jail and keep returning after getting released. genuinely antisocial. And he’s having to navigate that and “Some do a bid and say, yeah, it’s my last time coming,” he adjust himself to how to be tough and learn how to sort says, using a slang term for a jail stay. “Others are not so of at least fit in here.” sure. For me, I know jail ain’t for me. I’m going to try my best to avoid it.” After the jail visit, Welsh says he is troubled by BEHIND BARS McManus’s demeanor. “He seems kind of shut down,” says It did not take long for the often harsh realities of prison Welsh. “I think he’s just less willing to show his vulnerabil- life to reach McManus. A month after he arrived at South ity. That’s probably a skill he learned in there.” Welsh says Bay, he was jumped and beaten by several other inmates. McManus called him regularly and was understandably He was taken to Boston Medical Center for stitches, and frightened when he was first jailed. “He doesn’t want to say then transferred as a safety measure to the Essex County he was scared. He was saying, ‘oh no, I was cool.’ I worry House of Correction in Middleton to serve the remainder about what this has done to him.” of his sentence. It’s a late August afternoon and Tim McManus is sitting with Welsh in a small bare room in the Middleton BATTLING THE ODDS jail. He’s wearing a brown prison jumpsuit and sneakers. If the jail environment is creating new hurdles that Now 21, he is reserved and sparing in his answers to most McManus will have to get over, the neighborhood he’ll questions, not the voluble teenager described by staff at return to presents its own problems. his high school or the Y.O.U. job training program. “I don’t really plan on indulging with anybody I used McManus says he adjusted without a lot difficulty to to mess with,” McManus says of his post-release plans. jail. “Everything is mental,” he says. He says he’s been lifting But that may prove easier said than done. weights, filling out his 6-2 frame, and reading, with a focus He’ll be encountering lots of other young men who on self-improvement books. He mentions one particularly have done time and who are also struggling with the appropriate title, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother, written pull between getting their lives on track and the negative by actor Hill Harper. He took a class in critical thinking influences that can easily lure ex-offenders back to trou- skills, though unlike other inmates he’s not eligible to earn ble. The neighborhoods along Blue Hill Avenue near his “good time” credits that take time off his sentence because home form a corridor with an astonishing concentration he’s serving a mandatory minimum. “It’s a class set up for good time, but I did it just to get off the unit,” he says. ‘I always say to him, He says he grew weary of the long period under strict curfew before going to don’t let your environment jail. “I was kind of fed up with it,” he says. “It was hard. But I didn’t really think I had a dictate who you are. As a choice at the time.” He credits the network of support he had pushing him to stick with man thinketh, so he is.’ it and get through high school. “A lot of encouragement there,” he says. of former offenders. From 2009 to 2015, 120 inmates were Though questions about the gun police seized are released from the Suffolk County House of Correction to off limits, McManus says he doesn’t consider himself “a addresses within a half-mile radius of McManus’s house, troublemaker.” “I don’t gang bang. Neighborhood and gang according to data from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s banging is two different things,” he says. “I chilled in the Department. neighborhood. I know everybody in the neighborhood. I’ll Of those getting released, younger offenders like say that much.” McManus run a particularly high risk of ending up McManus says he wants to get back into construction back in trouble and back behind bars. Recidivism rates when he’s released in December. “Drywalling was smooth,” in Massachusetts, as elsewhere, are highest among the he says. “I love doing construction work. Hands on. I got youngest offenders, according to a report this summer

30 CommonWealth FALL 2016 ADDRESSES NEAR THE MCMANUS HOME TO WHICH INMATES WERE RELEASED FROM THE SUFFOLK COUNTY HOUSE OF CORRECTION, 2009-2015.

BLUE HILL AVENUE

MORTON STREET

Source: Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department by the Council of State Governments, which is helping length about them moving,” says DuBois. “I think envi- Massachusetts with its review of criminal justice policies. ronment plays a big role in a lot of things.” Among 18-24 year-olds released from Massachusetts Diane McManus has been ready for months for Tim houses of correction in fiscal year 2011, 76 percent were to come home. She painted the first floor bedroom for rearraigned on a new charge within three years, 55 per- him in the townhouse she bought 27 years ago through cent were convicted, and 52 percent were reincarcerated. the Habitat for Humanity program. “He told me, ‘I want By contrast, the reincarceration rate was nearly half that my room green. That’s life. Money green, neon green, any level for those 45 and older, with 29 percent reincarcer- green,’” she says. “I keep him optimistic,” she says of their ated within three years. conversations about his room, where two chess sets await Working in McManus’s favor is the fact those with his return, along with an aquarium ready to be filled with fewer prior convictions have lower recidivism rates, and water and fish. “Everyone needs to know they are needed the job training program he worked with is ready to and wanted.” take him back. DeAngelo, the case worker from Youth Despite her work to get his room ready, Diane Options Unlimited, visited McManus in jail in March and McManus agrees with those who say the best thing would plans another trip this fall to talk about plans for him to be to leave the neighborhood behind. reenter the program when he’s released. “We told him we “The same neighborhood where all this violence is. would be there for him while he was in there, we would The same neighborhood where a young lady got shot in stay in touch, and we’d be there on the other end,” says the head twice,” she says. “The same neighborhood where DeAngelo. he got into trouble. I want to sell the house and just go.” Those who do well with the program can find a path She worries about her son’s future, but says she thinks into the building trades unions, something that would he will make it when he gets out. be life-altering, says Welsh. “It really could be a stepping “I know he will,” she says wistfully, her tone as much stone to him having a really stable life,” he says. one of fervent hope as unwavering conviction. “I know “The reality is the odds are stacked against him,” says he’s in jail, but everything that people are saying don’t Olivia DuBois, the social worker who has worked with necessarily have to be true about how people come out.” McManus since high school and still calls and visits him. “When I speak to him, it’s not based on him being “My hope is he can beat those odds. I’m hopeful because locked up,” she says. “I always say to him, don’t let your of the support he has, because of the person he is. I hope environment dictate who you are. The word of God is so he’s the exception to the statistics.” true: As a man thinketh, so he is. So what I try to teach DuBois says she has talked with McManus and his him is, change your thinking. You got your high school mother about moving out of the neighborhood, an idea diploma. You were learning a trade. You made one bad also raised by Welsh and DeAngelo. “We’ve talked at choice.”

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 31 The Head of the Charles attracts large crowds.

32 CommonWealth FALL 2016 State trying to be smarter landlord The underfunded, understaffed Department of Conservation and Recreation is struggling to raise the rent

BY COLMAN M. HERMAN AND BRUCE MOHL | PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL MANNING

The Head of the Charles Regatta is a major draw for Massachusetts. Attracting more than 11,000 athletes and tens of thousands of spectators from all over the world, the October regatta is to rowing what the Boston Marathon is to long-distance running. For the Department of Conservation and Rec- dilemma. Should the agency offer access to the reation, the state agency that owns the Charles river and its shoreline as a public service, or River and its shores, the regatta also presents a should it share in the profits from the event and

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 33 use the money to bolster the agency’s tattered finances? DCR faces these types of questions on a daily basis. The agency is the largest landowner in the state. It owns the Esplanade, the Walden Pond State Reservation, Nickerson State Park, and many other parks and beaches. It also owns 2,000 buildings, four working piers, three ski areas, two golf courses, two summer theaters, six bocce courts, and assorted ice rinks and pools. In all, the agency owns 450,000 acres of land. Leo Roy, commissioner Despite its massive responsibilities, of the Department DCR has the image of a sad-sack state of Conservation and agency. Over the years, governors Recreation. have used the agency as a patronage haven, commissioners have come and gone at lightning speed, and the agency’s budget and mindset, a mindset that workforce have never kept pace with its responsibilities. DCR commissioner Leo The parks, pools, and rinks that DCR oversees generally Roy hopes to change. keep operating, but day-to-day financial management of DCR offers the regat- many of the agency’s properties, particularly those leased ta access to the Charles to third parties, has been neglected. River and eight designat- Four years ago, CommonWealth reported that some ed areas along the shore DCR tenants had been operating for long periods of time for 13 days for a base without leases and other tenants were paying rents that fee of $45,000, plus reim- were either well-below market rate or not paying any- bursement of any agency thing at all (“Freeloading,” CW, Winter ’12). State Auditor expenses in excess of Suzanne Bump was called in and in 2013 she recom- that amount. In 2015, mended a number of initiatives to put the agency on solid DCR collected a total of footing. The Legislature also passed a law in 2010 autho- $97,650 from the regatta rizing DCR to negotiate long-term leases with yacht and organization. boat clubs that for years had been paying cut-rate rents. By contrast, the nonprofit brought in $3.1 million last Progress has been slow, painfully slow. DCR has yet year from the event, and a third of that amount was pure to implement many of the recommendations in the audit profit. While DCR struggles to maintain services with a report. Some DCR tenants continue to pay no rent, while the yacht and boat clubs are just now being required to increase their payments. An outside consulting firm Progress has been brought in more than two years ago to help the agency get a handle on all its leases is still on the job, running up a tab slow, painfully slow, that will reach $777,000 next year. In August, a report commissioned by the administra- in putting DCR’s tion of Gov. Charlie Baker documented in stark terms how DCR is poorly managing state piers in New Bedford, dealings with lease Fall River, Plymouth, and Gloucester. In New Bedford, for example, the consultant says accurate revenue and holders in order. expense reports for the pier did not exist, but guessed that DCR suffered a $28,000 loss operating the pier in 2015. declining budget, the nonprofit’s tax return indicates it Against this backdrop of mismanagement, DCR’s per- has built up a $5.1 million endowment. The regatta’s exec- mit arrangement with the Head of the Charles Regatta utive director, Frederick Schoch, is paid $306,489 a year, might seem like small potatoes. Yet the lease with the non- more than twice the salary of the DCR commissioner. profit that runs the regatta is symptomatic of the agency’s Roy, a little over nine months on the job, says it is

34 CommonWealth FALL 2016 PORTRAIT COURTESY OF DCR Community Boating operates a sailing program from DCR land under a lease that expired six years ago and requires the nonprofit to pay no rent. time for DCR to start collecting fair-market rents on the made in hell. The two agencies had very different respon- properties it leases. He says many of the agency’s permits sibilities and cultures. As supervisors pared back duplica- and leases go back decades, and reflect the attitude that tive positions, they were left with a staff that had big gaps below-market rents are acceptable if the tenant is provid- in its institutional memory. ing a public service in line with DCR’s mission. The situation wasn’t helped by funding that yo-yoed “I approach this on a fairness basis,” Roy says in a up and down over the years and management ranks that telephone interview. “If I let one group use a piece of riv- were always in a state of turmoil. Over the past 13 years, erbank on the Charles River at a below-market rate, that’s the agency has been headed by at least 11 different com- revenue that I’m starving from the system as a whole. missioners, four of them on an interim basis. So maybe there is a park in the central part of the state Roy, the current commissioner, replaced Carol Sanchez, that’s not getting the resources it needs because I’ve got a the head of an accounting firm who left the post after just below-market situation here. What I’m trying to do over seven months on the job. Roy served as undersecretary time is really systematically get all of the rents across the of environmental affairs in the administration of former system up to a market rate, or up to a near-market rate. governor William Weld and spent the last 15 years work- It’s a multiyear effort.” ing in the private sector. He was six weeks into retirement when Matthew Beaton, the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, asked him to take the helm at DCR. MATCH MADE IN HELL Roy made headlines in August for using DCR staff and DCR was created in 2003 by the merger of the Metro- resources to host a private party on July 3 for Baker admin- politan District Commission and the Department of istration officials and Republican operatives. Roy and his top Environmental Management. Some say it was a match DCR aide, who cohosted the party, each served one-week

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 35 suspensions without pay once their actions came to light. DCR’s financial problems are reflected in unstaffed When he was running for office, Baker pledged over campgrounds, shorter seasons for pools and rinks, poorly the course of his first term to allocate 1 percent of the maintained parks, and fewer children’s programs. The state budget to environmental programs, which would lack of funding is a major reason why Daley Field along include the operations of DCR. Roy says the governor the Charles River in Brighton sat fallow for years, and was sincere in his pledge, but circumstances haven’t why DCR ultimately decided last year to lease the seven- allowed him to follow through. acre piece of property to Simmons College. The DCR budget hit a peak of $96.4 million in fiscal Simmons paid DCR $500,000 to lease the waterfront year 2008 before falling back to a low of $70.6 million in property and agreed to invest millions of dollars in Daley 2011, when former governor Deval Patrick was in office. Field installing tennis courts and turf fields. The fields The budget has recovered somewhat in recent years, are now open and being used by Simmons, the Brighton but the current funding level of $86.8 million is only High School football team, and the Allston-Brighton $200,000 more than what it was 12 years ago. Roy says the budget numbers don’t include trust funds and federal aid that bring the total to about $100 mil- After a buyout, lion, of which approximately 22 percent must be raised by DCR itself through fees collected from concessions, 99 employees left leases, and parking. The agency currently has 875 full-time-equivalent DCR, taking with employees, its lowest level since the agency was created in 2003. A handful of the workers have political ties to the them a vast amount Baker administration, including Norman Orrall, a GOP state committeeman and the husband of state Rep. Keiko of agency knowledge. Orrall; Andrea Farretta, a Republican who ran unsuccess- fully for a state rep seat; Republican state committee mem- Little League. Others can sign up to use the facilities ber Lisa Barstow; and William Cooksey, a former producer when they are not in use by those groups. at conservative talk radio station WRKO. Matthew Sisk, a DCR officials defend the deal as a way to bring a GOP state committeeman, resigned recently as Leo’s top neglected piece of state property back to life. But George aide after getting caught using the siren on his state vehicle Bachrach, the president of the Environmental League, to bypass traffic. says Daley Field illustrates how DCR is squandering the DCR lost 99 employees late last year when the Baker state’s resources. administration offered buyouts to state workers. Roy says “The Commonwealth is shortchanged twice, first by he was allowed to replace a portion of them, but by the DCR’s failure to adequately maintain parks and second time he and his staff completed an analysis of which posi- by its failure to achieve just compensation for what the tions should be filled the administration had announced agency gives away,” he says. a hiring freeze. “So we haven’t been able to backfill as many as we would like,” he says. Those who took buyouts included four regional planners, 90 PERCENT THERE six program managers, three environmental analysts, and More than a year ago, DCR officials were talking excitedly 10 civil engineers. “There was a lot of important institu- about the development of a new electronic system to track tional knowledge that walked out of the door,” says Whitney the agency’s 1,000 leases and permits. The system, being Hatch, the chairman of DCR’s Stewardship Council, a developed by the consulting firm TR Advisors, was going 13-member advisory group appointed by the governor. to alert state employees when a lease was about to expire “Things are much worse now than they’ve ever been,” and provide all the information necessary to negotiate a says Hatch. “You’ve got people doing two and three jobs new agreement. It was going to be a big step up from the at a time and covering for each other. If there are any haphazard paper filing system DCR used in the past. more reductions, they’re going to have to figure out what “I’d say we’re about 90 percent there with that,” says to stop doing immediately.” Roy. “A lot of these arrangements for use of DCR prop- In July, Erica Mattison, the legislative director of the erty happened informally over a long number of years. It Environmental League of Massachusetts, wrote a letter is taking quite a lot of time to get our arms around it and to House Speaker Robert DeLeo in which she said it was make sense of it. Again, things pop up all the time that nearly impossible for the remaining staff at DCR to carry maybe somebody in the organization knew about but not out the agency’s responsibilities. the right people. So it’s been quite a process.”

36 CommonWealth FALL 2016 Passengers wait for the ferry at the New One example of something that Bedford state pier. popped up was DCR’s arrangement with Community Boating, the nonprofit that operates a sailing program from DCR- owned land along the Charles River near the Hatch Shell in Boston. A public records request for the agency’s lease with Community Boating yielded nothing. A DCR spokesman subsequently con- firmed that the lease with Community Boating expired six years ago. The lease required Community Boating, which reported revenue of $1.62 million on its 2015 tax return, to pay no rent on the property. “We’re going to look at that,” says Roy. “We are systematically moving people up to more realistic rents. We’re The foreground of the New not trying to bankrupt anyone or put Bedford state pier has a big hole in it that has been them out of business. But it’s not really partially filled in with concrete. fair to the system as a whole to have some free riders. We need everyone to contribute to the level of their abilities.” All but one of the 30 yacht and boat clubs located on DCR land have been operating for years under one-year permits that require the clubs to pay rents ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 a year. The permits often stir outrage because many of the clubs are operated by institutions that could easily pay more, including Harvard University, MIT, and Boston University. Even some of the clubs don’t like the system because banks won’t lend them money for improvements when their tenancy is year-to-year. DCR has hired a new pier manager and is installing In 2010, the Legislature passed a refrigeration to allow imports law drafted by Rep. Paul Donato of of produce year-round. Medford authorizing DCR to negotiate long-term leases with the boat and yacht clubs. DCR followed through by creating a new leasing system that gradually steps up rental rates over 30 years to a peak of up to $102,000 a year. If imple- mented shortly after the Legislature gave the go-ahead, the leases would have brought in $1.9 million in additional revenue by now. But only one lease— with Northeastern University—was ever negotiated; the other clubs remained on one-year permits at their old rates. DCR officials decided late in the

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 37 The report calls for the piers to be transferred to DCR BUDGET BLUES another state agency or authority with more expertise in BUDGET ($) EMPLOYEES* economic development and the resources to fully support 2005 86,651,000 1,086 2006 82,677,000 1,094 the state piers. 2007 88,752,000 1,102 New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell says DCR has got to 2008 96,404,000 1,145 go. “DCR’s management [of the New Bedford pier] has 2009 93,041,000 1,045 been woefully inadequate,” he says. “It’s a facility that has 2010 77,249,000 999 been ignored for an awfully long time and it ought not 2011 70,618,000 995 to be managed by an agency whose primary business is 2012 71,508,000 964 parks and beaches.” 2013 76,741,000 936 Roy says he is well aware of the DCR deficiencies cited 2014 79,830,000 957 in the report, but no decision will be made on what to 2015 80,352,000 881 do with the management of the piers until the release of 2016 85,422,000 875 a second report examining their economic potential. In 2017 86,856,000 the meantime, DCR has hired a new pier manager in New * Full-time equivalents at end of year. Bedford and is investing in refrigeration equipment there SOURCE: Department of Conservation and Recreation; Office of that will allow imports of produce year-round. Comptroller. “So long as the DCR is responsible for those piers, we’re going to do our best to manage them well,” he says. summer to issue five-year permits to all of the yacht and boat clubs at the higher rates. Roy says the agency will RENT RENEGOTIATIONS MOVING SLOWLY negotiate 30-year leases with those clubs that want them. Soon after he was appointed DCR commissioner, Roy Donato, who is frustrated at DCR’s slow response says he sat down with Robert Zimmerman Jr., the execu- time, says the agency only issued the permits because it tive director of the Charles River Watershed Association. was under pressure to do something. Roy, however, says The association was paying DCR $100 a month to rent an the five-year permits address the immediate problem and entire building at the Leo J. Martin golf course in Weston. buy the agency time to finish the leasing process. The association was also responsible for capital improve- “We can’t do everything all at once,” he says. “It’s embar- ments, and Zimmerman says he has spent about $250,000 rassing it’s taken so long, but we’ve made pretty dramatic over the last 11 years on a new roof, septic system, and progress.” other repairs. DCR owns four piers in New Bedford, Fall River, Plymouth, and Gloucester that are used for cargo shipping and storage, ferry service, commercial fishing and process- State report called ing, dockage for fishing vessels and cruise ships, tourism, and social events. for DCR state piers A report commissioned by the Baker administration found that three of the four piers are poorly managed and to be transferred poorly maintained. All of them operate at a loss. The pier in Gloucester, which is managed by MassDevelopment under to another state a contract with DCR, was singled out as the best run. The August report, prepared by Karl F. Seidman agency or authority. Consulting Services and UrbanFocus LLC, reveals a “hodgepodge of leasing arrangements and a lack of good Roy says he told Zimmerman he wanted to make the real estate leasing practices” by DCR. At the New Bedford association the agency’s poster child for its efforts to raise pier, the report documents leases with seven different rents to market rates. “If your rent goes up dramatically, categories of tenants. In four of the categories, the tenants then it’s going to help me with everyone else whose rent I were operating under expired leases. “Several agreements need to raise dramatically,” says Roy, recounting the con- provide for automatic one-year renewals without any rent versation. “So now they’re up to $2,000 a month, which is increases and have been renewed in this manner for five still pretty cheap but a big increase over what they were years or longer,” the report says. The report also notes that paying. That’s money that Bob now has to go out and “large portions of the pier are in terrible condition and in raise, but he’s up for it because he realizes DCR needs critical need of major repairs.” money for its mission, too.”

38 CommonWealth FALL 2016 Zimmerman says Roy’s portrayal of their conversation they’re attributed to the right accounts.” is accurate. He says Roy negotiated fairly and honestly Roy hasn’t set any targets for boosting the agency’s and both sides come out ahead. DCR collects more rent own-source revenue from concessions, parking, and leases, money and the association is no longer on the hook if the in part because staffing is limited. “Our staffing levels are roof leaks or something else goes wrong with the building. lower than they’ve been in the past,” he says. “It takes staff Roy cautions that future rent renegotiations may not effort to do revenue collection, so at our current staffing go as smoothly. Some leases, in fact, are off-limits. For levels I don’t know how much more revenue we can actu- example, DCR’s lease with the Museum of Science won’t be ally collect.” changing any time soon. The museum pays $1 a year for its Hatch, the chairman of DCR’s Stewardship Council, lease of a large swath of land along the Charles River. The advocates for the establishment of a fiscal advisory group initial lease has several decades left to run and the museum to conduct a “basic budget analysis” of the agency. He has an option for another 99 years at the same price. “That’s says the analysis could be used as a basis for developing not the type of agreement I would care to enter into today,” a range of performance standards for DCR—what Hatch Roy says. calls “gold, silver, or bronze” service levels—and an esti- The rental renegotiations at DCR are likely to take a mate of how much money the agency needs to perform long time. Roy says the agency issues more than 1,000 at those levels. annual and multi-year permits and there are only two The council was able to persuade the Legislature to allo- employees working on them, aided by three to four others cate $200,000 for the task. Although the money was vetoed on a part-time basis. by Baker, the veto was overridden by the Legislature. It’s “We haven’t made our lives easy by the way this was set unclear whether Baker will cut the funding anyway to help up. It happened in a very ad hoc fashion,” he says. “What bring this year’s budget into balance. we’re trying to do is get our arms around it and know what Hatch says it is urgent that something be done to turn we’ve got, get it so the invoices are sent out on a regular things around at DCR. “Right now, I think the agency is basis, and then, when the payments come in, make sure pretty close to going broke,” he says.

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FALL 2016 CommonWealth 39 A Springfield revival? Railcar manufacturing, a casino, and other changes are creating some optimism.

BY TED SIEFER | PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK MORELLI

40 CommonWealth FALL 2016 The construction of the MGM Springfield casino is remaking the downtown.

springfield mayor dominic Sarno remembers the the city, killing three, wreaking havoc on scores of build- day after Thanksgiving in 2012. The sky was clear and ings, and leaving hundreds homeless. A freak October the temperature unseasonably warm. The mayor was snowstorm would compound the misery, downing hun- at the city’s downtown museum complex for an event dreds of trees and power lines. And all of this destruction kicking off the start of the holiday season, and earlier was visited on a city that had already suffered from a he had attended the annual Parade of the Big Balloons, range of ailments, among them high unemployment and Springfield’s version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day fiscal insolvency. floats. So it was that Sarno was savoring that warm cheer- It was just the kind of day the city needed after the ful day in November. Then a loud boom convulsed previous year’s cataclysm: the tornado that tore through the ground and shook the windows. The crowd ran

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 41 for cover while Sarno ran in the direction of the blast a few blocks away; a gas explosion had leveled a strip club. “You start to shake your head and wonder what more could happen. Are locusts coming now?” Sarno remembers thinking. Today, Sarno can look back on those days and almost chuckle. How Springfield’s luck has changed in a few short years—and no, that’s not just a nod to the billion- dollar MGM casino going up downtown, where blocks of buildings had been torn asunder by the tornado. Across town, the China Railway Rolling Stock Corpora- tion (CRRC)—the largest railcar manufacturer in the world—is building a plant that will employ more than 100 local workers to assemble the new fleet of MBTA Orange and Red Line cars. By the end of this year, the city is expected to reopen Union Station, after a long-awaited nearly $100 million overhaul of the historic transportation terminal. Vacant for decades, the station will soon serve as A bus shelter near an “intermodal” transit hub, a depot for Amtrak trains, local Union Station is and intercity buses, and possibly commuter rail. The open- under construction. ing corresponds with track and station upgrades in Holyoke, Northampton, and Greenfield. If Connecticut completes upgrades on its end of the line, in a few years time there humid day in late August for the “topping off” ceremony, could be 25 daily round trips running between Springfield when a beam is symbolically installed at the top of the and Hartford—what public officials have taken to calling sprawling skeleton of girders that will soon house the “the Knowledge Corridor.” CRRC railcar plant. Sarno, Gov. Charlie Baker, and state There’s a growing technology cluster in and around Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack are all there Springfield, fueled in part by the regional hospital and the on the dais, but it is CRRC vice president Yu Weiping area’s dozen-plus colleges and universities, and old-line who may best express the import of the moment. manufacturing businesses are expanding. All told, public “We will return manufacturing to Springfield, stimulate and private investment in ongoing or recently completed the local economy, and deliver the most technologically- projects totals $5.2 billion, according to the Economic advanced Red and Orange Line vehicles to the MBTA,” he Development Council of Western Massachusetts. says in a speech translated into English by a young woman. So are we witnessing a miraculous recovery in Spring- “No more sleepless nights of 40-year-old railcars rattling field—a “renaissance,” as some of its boosters put it these through Boston and beyond.” days? The subway car facility is the product of what may If so, it’s not being reflected in some of Springfield’s prove to be one of the wiser decisions associated with dismal statistics: The city’s poverty rate remains among the T in recent memory. The state-owned Chinese railcar the highest in Massachusetts, and the school district’s company agreed to build the plant as a condition of the test scores are among the lowest. And this wouldn’t be $566 million contract to replace the Red and Orange Line the first time a comeback was heralded for Springfield, trains. The T is getting 284 shiny new cars, and Western the state’s third-largest city, with a population of about Massachusetts—where residents have long grumbled 153,000. about having to pay for a transit system they scarcely Sarno, who was elected in 2007 and is poised to become use—will get much needed jobs, about 150 of them with the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history, insists this salaries starting at $65,000 year. time things are different, that the changes taking place in It’s safe to say a Chinese executive heralding the return the city are real. “You can see the brick and mortar now,” of manufacturing to an American city would have been he says. “It’s not smoke and mirrors.” an unimaginable sight for the millions of US workers who saw their jobs outsourced overseas, to China and elsewhere, over the past several decades. RAILCAR PLANT GOING UP The irony is especially rich in Springfield, which occu- The usual assemblage of public officials, executives, and pies a seminal place in the industrial history of America. ironworkers are gathered in East Springfield on a warm The City of Firsts, as Springfield is aptly known, was home

42 CommonWealth FALL 2016 Springfield’s MBTA connection: The plant where CRCC will build new Red and Orange Line railcars for the T.

to the first National Armory, supplying firearms to the US Springfield: guns. Smith & Wesson’s main headquarters Army from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam and production facility have been in Springfield for more conflict. The city is credited with producing the first gas- than a century, and the company very much remains powered vehicles, and it was home to the first American a prominent fixture. Revenues at the company rose 40 motorcycle manufacturer, the legendary Indian. percent from last year, with demand for firearms rising No one believes that the CRRC plant portends a return amid the continuing debate over gun control and mass- to the glory days of manufacturing in Springfield. But the shootings. facility will be CRRC’s North American headquarters, Economic development types, however, don’t seem to have much nostalgia for Springfield’s industrial past. They tend to focus on its potential as a hub for tech- One venerable nology and innovation, drawing on its mix of “eds and meds”—the 14 colleges in the area and a regional company has never medical center. “There’s absolutely a growing creative economy,” left Springfield: says Richard Sullivan, the CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts.“You Smith & Wesson, the have a film industry, game development, app development, medical data.” gun manufacturer. In Holyoke, which shares many of the economic challenges of neighboring Springfield, a high-speed and it is likely to have ripple effects up and down the data research facility—the Massachusetts Green High regional supply chain. (The company is seeking contracts Performance Computing Center—was opened in 2012 with other US transit systems, but there are no guarantees with backing from the Commonwealth and several of the of expansion in Springfield. CRRC won a contract with state’s major universities. the Chicago Transit Authority earlier this year, and is At Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, the largest building a new factory there as well.) hospital in the region, officials have launched TechSpring, CRRC’s Springfield factory could help propel a new an incubator that gives entrepreneurs and researchers wave of highly-automated and computer-driven manu- access to a live medical setting to come up with innova- facturing—what’s referred to as precision manufacturing tions in health care. —that’s taken root in the region. And then there’s the casino. Long before Massachusetts And there’s one venerable product line that never left enacted its gaming law in 2011, a casino was seen as the

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 43 Laura Masulis works for MassDevelopment and is embedded in the city’s transformative development district.

last, best hope for Springfield, which was already known READING ECONOMIC SIGNALS for its less-than-savory entertainment options, in particu- For a long time, finances were a touchy subject in Spring- lar the strip clubs that line the edge of downtown. field. Twelve years ago, the city appeared to be heading the While the casino isn’t the first thing that business lead- way of Detroit. The city was on the brink of bankruptcy, ers seem to want to talk about, no single factory or tech with a $41 million deficit; its bond rating was approach- startup compares to the anticipated economic impact of ing junk status; city workers were laid off in droves; and the MGM Springfield, which is expected to offer 3,000 a cloud of corruption lingered from the federal probe of permanent jobs and generate millions of dollars in tax former Mayor Michael Albano in the early 2000s. revenue when it is slated to open in 2018. In 2004, the state convened a special panel of local City officials tend to play up MGM’s status as a pur- leaders, state revenue officials, and business executives to veyor of classy entertainment—it’s known for hosting the overhaul the city’s finances. The Finance Control Board suc- Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas—rather than gambling. In ceeded in beefing up revenue collection and hammering out addition to the casino, the facility is expected to house a new agreements with the city’s labor unions, and in 2009 the movie theater, bowling alley, 250-room hotel, and numer- board was dissolved by Sarno, who was one of its founding ous restaurants. members when he was on the city council. Kevin Kennedy, Springfield’s economic development “Everyone thought after they left, we’d fall off the face chief, stresses the facility will be integrated into the down- of the earth, but we’re stronger than ever,” Sarno says of the town streetscape, with close to 20 separate entryways along control board. “We have the highest bond rating in the city’s historic facades. “It’s not designed like a fortress where you h i s t or y.” suck everybody in and keep everyone inside,” he says. Springfield’s bond rating is now double-A, and its The casino is expected to generate more than $17 mil- rainy-day fund tops $40 million. lion annually in tax revenue for the city, in addition to a For all the promising developments in Springfield, the $15 million host community agreement. And that money boarded-up windows and empty lots one can find across could go a long way toward avoiding the fiscal problems the city dispel the notion that any kind of dramatic trans- that have plagued Springfield in the past. formation is afoot. Springfield’s economic vitals consis-

44 CommonWealth FALL 2016 tently rank near the bottom of the list of Gateway Cities, reform effort, building on some of the lessons learned in the Commonwealth’s immigrant-heavy post-industrial Lawrence, which has been in state receivership since 2011. urban centers. Nearly 30 percent of Springfield’s popula- Individual leaders at most of Springfield’s middle schools, tion lives below the poverty level, second only to neigh- where problems are especially acute, have been given con- boring Holyoke. While the unemployment rate has fallen siderable autonomy over staffing and other matters. below double-digits in recent months to around 8 per- The thinking, sometimes referred to as a “third way” cent, it remains well above the state average of 5 percent. between charter and traditional public schools, is that Its labor participation rate is 65 percent, the lowest of any leaders at the school level are in the best position to Gateway City; in other words, more than a third of the identify and drive the changes needed to improve student city’s working-age population isn’t even in the labor pool. performance. The so-called Springfield Empowerment “You have huge numbers of people who are not even Zone is working with Empower Schools, the Boston non- engaged in looking” for a job, says Elizabeth Wills-O’Gilvie, profit started by Chris Gabrieli, the venture capitalist and an African-American community activist who grew up in one-time gubernatorial candidate and former MassINC Springfield, worked in community development in New chairman, and it is overseen by an independent board. York City and Chicago, and returned to the city about eight One year into the program, there aren’t many hard met- years ago. “You’ve got second generations of people where rics. But Empowerment Zone board member John Davis, a their parents never had a job. So why would they even businessman and trustee of the Irene E. & George A. Davis believe there are opportunities out there for them?” Foundation, says early indications are promising. Wills-O’Gilvie says vast parts of the city continue to suf- “In reports we’ve started to get back, I can say there fer from a lack of basic necessities, including a decent super- definitely has been some progress in the outcomes,” he market. To get high quality, healthy food, Wills-O’Gilvie says. “But these things are going to take a number of years.” says one has to cross the “tofu curtain,” as locals refer to Davis, whose family foundation has been supporting the invisible barrier that divides Springfield from wealthier, education initiatives in the Springfield area for more than liberal-minded burgs to the north such as Northampton. five decades, says improving district schools is key to the Springfield’s deficiencies manifest themselves most city’s wider revival. starkly in the school system. Fewer than half of the dis- “We’re leaving the industrial age and going into what trict’s students test at proficient levels in English, math and we would call the knowledge age,” Davis says. “People used science, and dropout rates far exceed the state average. to work with their hands and backs; today they’re working Springfield has been among the handful of districts with their minds. It’s a different world than existed 60 years ago. We need people who can solve problems to do that.” Springfield is TRANSFORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT The question of what to do about Springfield has long embarked on an occupied local, state, and federal officials. A 2009 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston concluded that ambitious third the city had not recovered the way other smaller former manufacturing cities had, such as Providence and New way in reforming Haven. “The riverfront redevelopment projects of the 1980s— the city’s schools. including the creation of the Basketball Hall of Fame and eyed for state takeover since 2010, when the law autho- the renovation of the downtown civic center—proved rizing the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education unsuccessful in bringing the city back to its feet,” notes the to place troubled school systems into receivership went report, “Reinvigorating Springfield’s Economy: Lessons into effect. Districts taken over include Lawrence and from Resurgent Cities.” Holyoke, which, like Springfield, have large majorities of The Commonwealth has spent vast sums over the students who are minority and poor. More than 64 per- years on various projects in Springfield. Over just the cent of Springfield public school students are Hispanic. last five years, MassDevelopment, the state’s economic Nearly 78 percent of students are considered “high development agency, has funded nearly $384 million in needs”—low-income, non-native English speakers, and/ projects in the city, including the Union Station redevel- or special needs. opment and college and hospital expansions. Last year, under mounting pressure from state educa- MassDevelopment is now taking a different tack in its tion officials, Springfield embarked on an ambitious school approach to Gateway City redevelopment. Derived in part

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 45 from research by the Boston Fed and MassINC, the agency in 2014 launched the Transform- ative Development Initiative, which seeks to concentrate resources in specific geographic areas of Gateway Cities—TDI districts—which are typically in distressed areas within or close to downtowns. The premise, outlined in a 2013 report by MassINC, the publisher of CommonWealth, is that targeted improvements in gritty but prominent sections of these cit- Next year, the Dr. Seuss ies will catalyze private invest- Museum is slated to ment and lead to a wider trans- open in Springfield. formation. “The idea is flipping the way you would normally look at economic development. Instead puses downtown, including UMass Amherst. of saying, ‘Let’s do a couple buildings here and there,’ it’s Downtown Springfield bears the distinct scars of past saying, ‘Let’s look at these concentrated areas and take a urban renewal efforts—forbidding multi-lane, one-way concentrated approach,’” says Laura Masulis, the TDI fellow streets and monolithic concrete apartment towers that in Springfield. She’s one of three fellows—professionals with have not aged well—but a stroll with Masulis helps one a range of backgrounds—that MassDevelopment hired in appreciate the city’s potential. There’s a shuttered Art Deco- 2014 to essentially embed in the troubled districts. style movie theater, and floors of vacant space sit behind Masulis works out of “Make-it Springfield,” a “maker- immaculate old facades. space” in the TDI district that stands out next to empty And then there’s one of the city’s most impressive and storefronts, a convenience store, and a greasy spoon. The easily overlooked quarters: its stately complex of four muse- center offers a host of hands-on and creative workshops— ums, known as the quadrangle. Next year, “The Amazing on a recent day students were learning how to fly drones— World of Dr. Seuss Museum” is slated to open, the long- and the colorful products of various art classes decorate the walls. Among other things, Masulis has helped bring about a downtown holiday craft market, the installation Springfield is a of way-finder signs, and a weekly beer garden, with offer- ings from White Lion, which bills itself as Springfield’s first test case for how craft brewery. For a state-funded program, the activities may seem whimsical, but Masulis says they help tap one best to promote of the city’s latent economic engines: the thousands of employees who work for companies downtown, including development MassMutual, the insurance giant that has kept its headquarters in Springfield since the 1800s. in an urban area. “Many people come to work, park in a garage, walk through a sky walk, go into an office, go to a food court in awaited homage to Theodor Seuss Geisel, arguably the city’s the building, go back to the office, and drive home without most quirky and internationally renowned native son. ever setting foot in the street,” says Masulis. “That’s a big SilverBrick, a Manhattan-based real estate development missed opportunity.” firm, is wagering that others will recognize downtown’s subtle charms. The loft phenomenon has largely eluded downtown Springfield, where low-income subsidized units ATTITUDES CHANGING make up the bulk of housing and where, unlike other Springfield has also sought to lure more people downtown, Gateway Cities, there are few extant mill buildings. But with music and arts programming. And several area col- SilverBrick has managed to convert a complex of old build- leges—at the urging of Mayor Sarno—have opened cam- ings into some 265 market-rate, loft-style apartments; the

46 CommonWealth FALL 2016 company says demand has been strong. (SilverBrick also “When people start to see changes on the ground, purchased a mill in neighboring Chicopee with plans to their whole view changes, and it’s tremendous to see,” build another 300 units.) says Minkarah. Springfield perhaps offers an even more compelling Wilfredo Lopez, who was born in Puerto Rico and housing option for pioneering professionals, especially if moved to Springfield with his family when he was a small they’ve been paying rents in the Boston or New York areas: child, has experienced firsthand the changing fortunes massive old houses can be had for less than $200,000. of the city. He had worked in the nightclub business, but After she got the MassDevelopment gig, Masulis, who now is a real estate broker. He recently participated in had been living in Somerville, decided to buy a place in discussions around a long-range economic plan for the the city. One of the main challenges she and her partner city, FutureCity 2026. faced was finding a house that was a manageable size. “I think things are getting better,” Lopez says as an “We basically wanted to know where is the smallest house after-work crowd begins gathering at Theodore’s, a local on the market,” she says. institution known for its barbecue and live blues. It’s too early to say if the recent surge in economic Among those to greet Lopez is a Hispanic woman who activity will allow Springfield to shake off some of the he says worked in community relations for MassMutual woes that have long weighed the city down. But in the and an African-American man who was a construction view of some observers, one thing is already changing: supervisor on the MGM casino. people’s attitudes. Springfield has long been known for having a clan- Jay Minkarah, who heads the nonprofit DevelopSpring- nish, tough style of politics, but Lopez says that is chang- field, which aims to boost commercial real estate developing; the corridors of power are becoming more accessible. ment in the city, recalls encountering a downbeat “fatal- “Everybody wants to be king of the mountain, but I’d ist” attitude when he came to Springfield close to four rather have a city of hills,” he says. “I truly believe there are years ago. This began to change with the groundbreakings enough good people and good energy right now. It’s just for the casino and the subway car facility. a matter of time when the lightbulb is going to hit.”

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FALL 2016 CommonWealth 47 48 CommonWealth SUMMER 2016 Turning around New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell’s game plan for his Gateway City

PHOTOGRAPHS BY FRANK CURRAN

jon mitchell walks a fine line as the mayor of challenge in cities that have experienced decades of New Bedford. On the one hand, he is the self-pro- decline,” he says. “In those kinds of places, a mind- fessed squeaky wheel, constantly pressing state and set takes hold that decline is an inevitable state of federal officials for more money, whether it’s for affairs. There’s sometimes an attitude toward state dredging the harbor, building a rail link to Boston, government that asks: What have you done for us or replacing the ancient bridge that connects New lately? What I’m trying to do is convince people Bedford to Fairhaven across the Acushnet River. that you have your own destiny in your hands. As At the same time, however, he tells New Bedford trite as it might sound, if you believe things will get residents that the city’s fate is in their hands, that better and are willing to work to make it happen, they shouldn’t just wait for outside help in turning it will.” things around. Things are getting better in New Bedford, as Mitchell sees no inconsistency in his actions. He they are in many of the state’s Gateway Cities. With says the goal of any Gateway City mayor is to maxi- the state unemployment rate at its lowest level since mize the municipality’s positives and minimize its 2001, a rising tide is lifting communities that are negatives. He says he will go anywhere for help in often left behind. New Bedford’s unemployment that effort, but he doesn’t want the city’s residents rate is 5.6 percent, well above the statewide rate of to think that they don’t have a role to play. 3.9 percent, but down sharply from the 9.9 percent “What I’m really trying to get at is the leadership rate when Mitchell first took office in 2012.

SUMMER 2016 CommonWealth 49 State and federal investments in New Bedford have Mitchell is in his third, two-year term and says he doesn’t played a key role in the city’s turnaround and are critical know if he will seek reelection next year. He says he is open to its future. A prime example is the $113 million New to running for higher office, but hasn’t made any decisions Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, completed in early yet. I interviewed Mitchell in his office at City Hall. What 2015 as a staging area for Cape Wind, which never got off follows is an edited transcript of our conversation. the ground. Now, with an ambitious new state law breath- — BRUCE MOHL ing life into offshore wind, the terminal could become the centerpiece of New Bedford’s bid to become the headquarters of an emerging industry. commonwealth: Has New Bedford turned the corner? Mitchell says New Bedford is not holding its breath waiting for the future to arrive. He says the city lacks jon mitchell: Things are clearly different now if you the crime and congestion that plague bigger cities, while look at some of the objective measures in terms of job offering natural beauty, history, and museums. The port, growth, the city’s bond rating, activity in the port, crime, including the fishing industry, is thriving. The cobble- and the schools are on the right track. We’re trending in stoned downtown is attracting restauranteurs who see the right direction. So if you look at all the sort of objec- promise. And the harbor walk along the city’s massive tive measures, we’re doing pretty well. Median income breakwater is breathtaking. hasn’t grown much in cities outside Boston, that’s true. Mitchell, 47, was born in New Bedford and grew up But in terms of just the sheer level of economic activity, there and in North Dartmouth. His parents are public things are going very well here. school teachers and his family has roots in the New Bedford fishing industry. He studied economics at Harvard and law cw: All the Gateway Cities seem to be doing better right at George Washington University before going on to work now. as a state and federal prosecutor. Intense, smart, and ambitious, he is not your typical back-slapping pol. Voters in mitchell: Clearly the growth in the American economy New Bedford have come to trust him. He ran for mayor in the last seven or eight years has helped New Bedford, as a relative unknown in 2011 and came in second in the especially in the last three or four years. There are many preliminary election to Rep. Antonio Cabral. He topped more jobs here than there were then and certainly in the Cabral by 867 votes in the final and has never looked back. last few years. But what cities do on their own matters. The When KG Urban of New York pulled the plug on its course that we’ve taken, chosen, on our own, really matters, efforts to build a $650 million casino on New Bedford’s too. We’re clearly seeing growth in manufacturing. That is waterfront last year, Mitchell felt betrayed. But he quickly a function of the markets that our manufacturers operate moved on, and didn’t even mention the casino effort dur- in. But we’re also seeing growth in the restaurant business, ing our interview. His message to residents after the KG especially in the downtown. That probably has less to do Urban departure was in keeping with his view that New with the national economy than the well-being of the city Bedford’s future is not dependent on outsiders. “This itself. We’re balancing our books. We’ve committed to community will not be a victim,” he said at the time. “We will not wallow in self-pity.” Mitchell is not afraid to take risks. When he came into The growth in the office, the city’s schools were in danger of slipping into American economy receivership. He brought in Pia Durkin from Attleboro as superintendent and she set about remaking the system has helped, but from top to bottom. Now the two of them are considering taking more radical action, trying to convince the school what cities do on committee, the teachers union, and parents that giving their own matters. Durkin a lot more autonomy to run the city’s middle schools will lead to quicker improvement. reforming our school system. We’re elevating in general Springfield went the same route, creating an empow- the city’s quality of life. People want to see this place as erment zone for nine of its schools. But Springfield had a safe, as a place where your kid can get a good education, be gun to its head with the state preparing to place some of launched on a career path, and a place that offers a richness its schools in receivership. New Bedford has stepped back of daily living that sets it apart from other places. from that brink under Durkin, yet she and Mitchell want to create their own empowerment zone because they cw: What’s the most important economic indicator you think it’s the right thing to do. track?

50 CommonWealth FALL 2016 New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell on the city’s harbor walk.

mitchell: They’re all important and I certainly make a of their life in a particular space that you’ve created, you lot of hay out of them. But I wouldn’t point to the quan- know you’ve done something really important. titative measures. I’d point to the physical changes in the city. That’s more of a qualitative thing. The city has to cw: The city does look nice, particularly the harbor walk. look clean, and I think we’ve made great strides there. I also think that cities that succeed cultivate a design ethic mitchell: To my knowledge, there isn’t another city with that makes people feel comfortable in the built environ- a boardwalk on top of a levee like that. That’s what I’m ment. By that I mean little things matter. I’ll give you proud of. We had this wall around the city which, in an age a tangible example: Custom House Square. When I got of rising sea levels, is extraordinarily valuable to protect into office, that was an asphalt parking lot and I felt New the physical plant and people in the city. But it also cut Bedford needed a downtown green space that would be people off from the water, so we figured out how to cobble attractive in the same way that places like Bryant Park together enough funds to build a walkway on top of the in New York or Post Office Square Park in Boston are in breakwater. New Bedford will ultimately have this recre- those cities. But it had to be done at a high level of design ational pathway up and down the water. I think people and executed well. We reached out to an old friend, a guy tend to associate those kinds of things with wealthier com- named Chris Reed, who is one of the premier landscape munities. They shouldn’t. People with limited resources architects in America. He’s from here. I said to him, should be able to enjoy those spectacular water views and would you do this park, and he said yeah. I said would take in the sites that others might take for granted. you do it for free for your hometown, and he said yes. Of course, people were complaining about the loss of park- cw: What’s your strategy with the southern part of the ing near restaurants and the loss of parking revenue and city that reaches into Buzzards Bay? so forth. And I said, we need something in the middle of downtown that people can be proud of. So we cut the mitchell: Every part of the city is important, but in an ribbon in September 2013, and within two weeks people effort to leverage our assets we want to make the most of began taking wedding photos there. If there are people what’s happening there. [He spreads a map out across his willing to capture one of the most important moments conference table.] So we have the two elevated bikeways, and

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 51 like charter schools and retiree obligations. The cost of pensions and retiree health care severely constrain our ability to pay for other things. Our fire department and our police department have been shrunk down in the last few years because we don’t have the ability to continue to fund them at the levels that existed before 2008. The same thing with our school system. We had a fairly decent-sized layoff three years ago of school employees. That, to me, is one of the biggest obstacles for us to get over.

On Water Street in New Bedford, cw: How about the city’s schools? Mayor Jon Mitchell chats with Jessica Coelho, owner of mitchell: When I took office, our schools Tia Maria’s European Café, and had been in a state of decline for several Chuck Rooney of Centerline years, and the state was considering a take- Carpentry in Mattapoisett. over of the entire system. At the time, many suggested that we simply let the state come they’ll connect up to South Dartmouth and to Fairhaven. If in, and wash our hands of it all. In my view, that would you haven’t been to Fort Taber [at the city’s southern tip], have left a huge black eye on New Bedford’s reputation. I you should take a look at it. This may arguably be one of also felt that we had to own the problem. A state takeover the most spectacular public spaces in the Commonwealth. might work the right technical fixes in the short run, but it You have all of Buzzards Bay that you look out on. This is could never substitute for a sustained local commitment to where we were going to stage Olympic sailing at one point, improvement. and we’re now actively promoting amateur sailing out there. We have certain advantages over Newport, the primary one cw: What did you do? being just the proximity of the land and the sailors. The race is right there in full view of spectators. There is nothing like mitchell: The effort began with replacing the incum- that in Newport, nothing like that anywhere. bent superintendent—a politically perilous undertaking. She was supported strongly by the teacher’s union, the cw: The beaches seem nice. former mayor, and others. After an exhaustive search, we hired Pia Durkin, who had an impressive record of mitchell: We’ve put a lot of money into the beaches, and raising performance as superintendent in Attleboro. In we’ll continue to do that. There’s a lot of public invest- the last three years, the entire enterprise that is the New ment in that area, probably a quarter of a billion dollars, Bedford School Department has undergone a dramatic especially if you add in the commerce terminal, which is overhaul. You name it, it has been revamped. right here at the base of the peninsula. With all that public investment, this is some of the most affordable near-beach cw: I interviewed Durkin. She says a lot of progress has real estate in the Northeast. You can buy a ranch home for been made. under $200,000 and walk to the beach. mitchell: The progress thus far has been undeniable. Test cw: What are the biggest challenges you face? scores, especially at our elementary schools, are sharply up. The dropout rate is dramatically down. And our high school mitchell: One of the benefits of looking at the map is to see graduates continue to matriculate to elite colleges. These just how big New Bedford isn’t. The city is 23 square miles, improvements are taking place in the face of a stiff headwind which is very small. When you look at what’s there to devel- of demographic and financial pressures on the city. op, where the property tax revenue can grow, you see the city is pretty built out. It’s a big problem because cities rely cw: But even with these gains, you’re exploring an empow- so heavily on property tax revenue. That’s a big constraint. erment zone. How would that work? The other thing that cities have a tough time dealing with are what are loosely referred to as state mandates, things mitchell: Increasing learning time and expanding school-

52 CommonWealth FALL 2016 based autonomy could certainly help, and it’s no wonder that they are often touted as two key attributes of charter schools by their proponents. We’ve been intrigued by the Learn what approach taken by the likes of Chris Gabrieli and Tripp Jones to promote these measures through what they have the insiders dubbed as a “third way,” an attempt to offer the benefits of the charter school model without the significant financial know. consequences charters impose on their host communities. [Jones was a co-founder and Gabrielli is a former board chairman of CommonWealth’s parent organization, MassINC.] get the cw: And you want teachers to give you more autonomy back story. voluntarily? Sounds like a tall ask. mitchell: Regardless of the outcome of the current state referendum on the charter cap, the Legislature ought to explore ways to make it easier for districts to adopt certain charter-like features in district schools. One fairly simple BACK measure would be to expand the authority districts have to turn around so-called Level 4 schools to apply to Level STORY 3 schools. This was an idea embraced several years ago by former Boston mayor Thomas Menino and others, and FREE to sign up! it essentially would enable districts to impose immediate Contact: Bruce Mohl at [email protected] reforms to schools that are heading in the wrong direction, but have yet to hit bottom. This would remove the impediment faced by reform-minded mayors and superintendents that, under current law, you have to wait until things get really bad before you can implement the most serious measures. cw: You want your harbor dredged, you want a new bridge connecting New Bedford and Fairhaven, and you want South Coast Rail. What’s your top priority? COLLEGE mitchell: They’re hard to compare. South Coast Rail is a massive project that will take a long time. These other projects are big, but they’re pretty small in comparison. As it pertains to South Coast Rail, my position is it would be a really useful project for the region. Clearly, Boston is STUDENTS living through a golden age right now and the more that we can connect with Greater Boston by public transit the Interested in public policy, better. But I also know that there are many other capital needs here that need to be addressed and that over the research, digital media, course of time the discussion of South Coast Rail has tended to crowd out the discussion of these other things. or journalism? The harbor hasn’t been dredged in over 50 years. That bridge was built during the whaling era. It’s an antique MassINC and CommonWealth magazine and it predates the growth of the fishing industry and are now accepting applications for interns. now the onset of the offshore wind industry. E-mail your resumé to Anne Middle at [email protected] cw: Let’s talk about New Bedford’s port. A recent report estimated 6,000 people work directly at port businesses.

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 53 mitchell: The city will be viable in the long run because dredging the harbor. But, more importantly, they said of the port. The uniqueness of ports as economic assets this port accounts for 2 percent of the state’s GDP. We talk has everything to do with their permanence. The port is about Gateway Cities as if they’re almost interchangeable. not going anywhere. It’s not being outsourced to Asia. As There’s nothing like this port anywhere else in the state, long as it’s dredged and maintained it will be here for the except in Boston. And by looking at side-by-side compar- foreseeable future. And for the foreseeable future people isons to the port of Boston, there’s at least an argument will continue to get food, electricity, and energy from the to be made that this is a larger port in terms of certain ocean. They will continue to travel by ocean and recreate measures of economic output. on the ocean and trade by ocean. Therein lies the value of this place. cw: What’s the tab for dredging and the new bridge? cw: You want the dredging and the new bridge to keep mitchell: The bridge is a $100 million investment. The the port growing, right? no-build alternative for the bridge, according to MassDOT, is $46 million. So doing nothing would be very expensive. mitchell: It’s useful to know the background of this. On the harbor dredging, we think the total cost is less than Two years ago, both Boston and we were seeking dredg- $100 million, with the state’s share in the ballpark of, say, ing funds from the state. Massport approached the state $30 million, but it could be lower than that. It’s mostly with a study of the port of Boston by Martin Associates federal funding. that spelled out the economic impact of the port of Boston. Based on that report, the Baker administration cw: What would the city’s share of the dredging be? agreed to pony up matching funds for the dredging of Boston Harbor. We were directed to go out and do our mitchell: Probably close to zero. There would be in-kind own economic study. We hired the same firm and they services, but our bonding capacity doesn’t allow for that came back and said there was tremendous potential from kind of spending.

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54 CommonWealth FALL 2016 cw: What’s the big business in the port? mitchell: The folks in Massachusetts tend to hear about the fishing industry and the adjectives that come to mind are beleaguered or distressed. But people need to know this port, despite the lack of infrastructure investment, is doing very, very well. The price of scallops is in the ballpark of $16 to $17 a pound. The guys who are out on scallop boats are effectively piloting ATM machines. They’re doing very, very well. And the clam boats are doing very, very well. The ground fish, not so much. That story has been told a number of times and it’s true, the ground fish sector is not doing well. The recreational sector is going gangbusters; the marina is full and it’s a big marina with 200 slips. The fish processors are also doing very well. This is the biggest fishing port in America. The processors here import about 90 percent of what they process. New Bedford in that way is to the seafood industry what Omaha is to the beef industry. cw: Let’s get back to my original question. What would you do first, the dredging, the bridge, or South Coast Rail? mitchell: With an unlimited budget, South Coast Rail would be at the top of the list. cw: An unlimited budget? Why are you hedging on South Coast Rail, a project that is likely to cost billions of dollars that the state doesn’t have. I thought your whole MEKETA INVESTMENT GROUP pitch was that New Bedford doesn’t need a rail lifeline to Boston Miami Portland San Diego London Boston to do well.

Since 1978, Meketa Investment Group has served our mitchell: I think the city needs to build up its transpor- clients as independent investment fiduciaries. tation infrastructure in general. So I include that as one Today, we are a full service investment consulting other thing that would enhance the competitiveness of and advisory firm, providing creative investment this place. If your question is, why do you need this to solutions, custom tailored to fit the unique remain a viable city, I’d say, no, we don’t need it to remain circumstances of our clients. We work on both a full retainer and project basis, and all of our services a viable city. What I’m saying is, I would advocate for that are available on a discretionary or in the same way I would advocate for the expansion of the non-discretionary basis. airport, which is another hugely underutilized asset if you Our consulting and advisory services fall into two think about where it’s situated geographically. primary categories: General Consulting and Private Markets. We provide these services to a broad array cw: Is the state a good partner? of institutional investors & plan sponsors:

Plan Sponsors Plan Types mitchell: Let me make a general observation that doesn’t relate specifically to the current administration. · Taft-Hartley · Defined Benefit For communities outside of Greater Boston, it is hard · Public · Defined Contribution to break into the conversation. Despite the sometimes · Corporate · Endowments & Foundations heated rhetoric about the haves and have nots in the state · Non-Profit · Health Plans, OPEBS & VEBAS and how they are geographically separated, I don’t think that folks in Boston get up in the morning and say how 100 LOWDER BROOK DRIVE · SUITE 1100 can we screw places like New Bedford and Springfield. WESTWOOD MA 02090 That said, we live in a state where the circles of political 781 471 3500 · www.meketagroup.com power, business, and media center around Boston.

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 55 cw: How do you make your voice heard? cw: Does the Baker administration agree with you? mitchell: I tend to be a more squeaky wheel than most. mitchell: The report speaks for itself. I don’t think any- I think it’s absolutely necessary for me to be so. What I one can responsibly keep this facility in the hands of that try to do is point out just what a huge driver of economic agency in the long run and expect this asset to produce activity the port is and make the case that it’s in the the intended benefits to the city and to the port. The mess Commonwealth’s interest to maintain it. Therein lies the that’s here reflects on New Bedford, not on some obscure rationale for all these infrastructure investments. state agency. cw: The state owns a pier in the heart of your water- cw: You also want DCR to open up the shore-half of the front that handles and stores cargo and services ferries to pier area to other uses, such as restaurants and shops. Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. You’ve made no secret Where are you on that? of the fact you think the pier should be taken away from the state agency that currently manages it, the Department mitchell: This whole area near Route 18 [which runs of Conservation and Recreation. along the waterfront] was narrowed in the last few years to make it easier for folks to cross over to the water- mitchell: DCR’s management has been woefully inad- front. It was about a $50 million project that was largely equate. A report that Karl Seidman just did validates what funded by a federal earmark. The whole purpose was I’ve been saying about it all along, which is that it’s a facil- to make this urban renewal road pedestrian-friendly ity that has been ignored for an awfully long time and that so people could connect with the water. The idea that it ought not to be managed by an agency whose primary I have championed is to utilize the [street-side part business is parks and beaches. The hope is that it will get of the] state pier as an area that could support public put in the hands of someone like MassDevelopment, which accommodation shops and restaurants. The area is has successfully managed the state pier in Gloucester. underutilized. The guys who run the terminal say we

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56 CommonWealth FALL 2016 can’t use this for industrial purposes because people are walking there to go to the ferry. cw: How excited are you about offshore wind? We care for mitchell: Geography still counts. Early on in my admin- the caregivers. istration, I, like a lot of other people, just associated the When caregivers make a commitment to care for offshore wind industry with Cape Wind. That was the a loved one, we make a commitment to them. thing that was in the news, and I didn’t know much about the growth of the industry in northern Europe. But as I We stand alongside them with a promise that they’ll started to dig into it, it made all the sense in the world to never be alone on their journey of providing the dignity put eggs into that basket because of the geographic advan- and comfort of home. Our experienced care teams tages we have. I distinctly remember reading a Department provide caregivers with support, coaching and ﬁ nancial of Energy report that said 25 percent of the nation’s wind assistance to help them solve day-to-day challenges reserves lie in the area south of Martha’s Vineyard going and anticipate what’s ahead. down the Eastern Seaboard. We’re the closest industrial seaport. We’ve got the deep water harbor. Now we have the marine terminal that is perfect for the wind industry because of its load capacity. And we have this seafaring workforce that is second to none in America. Offshore wind is a way to diversify our industry mix on the waterfront. Learn more and determine eligibility. cw: Won’t other ports be trying to land that business? 866-797-2333 | caregiverhomes.com mitchell: Since I’ve become mayor, I’ve tried to get people here to think differently about themselves. We’re not an ailing patient that needs help. We are prepared to compete. All these other ports that want to jump into this effort, New Bedford is going to beat them. We’re going to outsmart them. We’re going to out hustle them. Beleaguered cities don’t usually talk like that. We need to understand that offshore wind may be important for us economically but also as a way of boosting the region’s confidence. cw: How big will offshore wind be? mitchell: We would like for there to be enough of a pipeline of these projects so that manufacturers can start to set up shop here. We’ve seen that in Northern Europe with the major component manufacturers setting up by TRINITY the quayside because the components are too large to be development & management shipped over land by rail or by truck. The Siemens folks have told us that we’re probably talking 10 years out before companies actually start to think about building a factory in the United States. What we need to do is to be on the lips of everybody in the industry. When they think about the American offshore industry, they need to be thinking about New Bedford. cw: Does New Bedford have enough space for factories? mitchell: There may be an opportunity to do manufac-

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 57 turing nearby. A lot will depend on how constrained we million budget. We’re far bigger than a lemonade stand. are as a result of scarce available land. That’s why we’re kick-starting our redevelopment authority so that we can cw: How do you change the term to four years? do some more land assembly. Operations and mainte- nance is another big source of jobs – about 30 percent of mitchell: There are a variety of ways. This will get done them in Europe. Because we’re a full service port, that’s an before I leave office, and I don’t want it to be done in a area where we can be very competitive. way that anybody thinks is self-serving. cw: What about an offshore wind workforce? cw: That answer sounds like you may be leaving soon. Are you? mitchell: We’re talking to the US Department of Energy about establishing a training center here with Bristol mitchell: I haven’t decided if I’m going to run again. Community College. In the Midwest, there are a number There have been a number of mayors over the years that of community colleges that have programs to train tech- have only been in for six years. There is certainly a lot of nicians on land-based windmills. We think that can be unfinished business. The work is never done. replicated here. cw: What is it that you might move on to? cw: Let’s turn to politics. Your term is two years and you think that’s too short, right? mitchell: I’m open to running for higher office. I am. But what I have learned over the years is that I have a mitchell: The two-year term has been a huge structural tough time finding satisfaction in my work unless I’m barrier to long-term progress. Two years is not nearly passionate about it, and I’m passionate about my job as enough time to plan and implement plans for an enterprise mayor. And I’m not going to run for any office where I of this size. There are 3,000 city employees. We have a $350 can’t say the same.

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58 CommonWealth FALL 2016 perspectives

The missing piece of education reform Leadership by superintendents and principals is key. by edward moscovitch

twenty-five years ago a broad coalition of The Bay State Reading Institute worked last legislators, business people, education experts, year with 50 Massachusetts elementary and mid- and state officials put together and passed a wide- dle schools (almost entirely in low-income com- reaching education reform law. That law reflects munities) to improve student achievement. Of a set of shared beliefs—basically, that a combi- the 33 schools with us for more than a year or two, nation of increased funding, state testing tied 25 have made impressive gains while the results at to graduation requirements, new state curricu- eight others are disappointing. Comparing the lum frameworks, charter schools, and increased gainers with the disappoint- authority for superintendents and principals ments leads me to four major would lead to better schools. I was part of that conclusions: coalition, but later came to believe that the law The key factor limiting omitted a critical element—working with princi- school improvement is not pals and teachers to help them improve their craft teachers, but leadership from – and helped start a non-profit (the Bay State the principal and the superin- Reading Institute) to work with elementary and tendent. Of course, improved middle schools in this way. My experience at the schools require improved teaching. But in a school Bay State Reading Institute over the past 11 years where the principal is committed to change, knows with several dozen schools convinces me that the pedagogy she (or he) is looking for, is willing current state policies—based on that unchanged to hold difficult conversations with teachers when policy consensus—are unlikely to lead to further needed, and has the backing of her superintendent, improvement in our schools. our experience is that the principal can always Results from the National Assessment of move her teachers. In each of the eight disappoint- Education Progress (the so-called “nation’s report ing schools the problem was a lack of principal card”) show that in the years immediately after commitment, an inability or unwillingness by the 1993 there was a measurable gain in Massachusetts principal to make specific pedagogical requests of students’ performance. But the results also show teachers, or central office officials undermining the that scores have leveled off in the last few years principal’s authority. and that there is still a sizable gap between the This finding about superintendents and prin- achievement of low-income students and their cipals has enormous implications for state policy. wealthier counterparts. Looking at international In its effort to improve schools, the Department test comparisons, the Massachusetts Business of Elementary and Secondary Education should Alliance for Education’s 2014 Brightlines report focus on superintendents (and school commit- concludes that while our scores are higher than tees), since they hire principals and give them other states, Massachusetts students are falling their marching orders. The department should behind the international leaders. The highest per- not be looking at programs that directly influence forming Massachusetts students are well behind teachers, since good principals can handle that those in the highest performing countries. far better than a state agency that is necessarily

ILLUSTRATION BY ALISON SEIFFER FALL 2016 CommonWealth 59 perspectives

focused on enforcement. This is not a criticism of the cated workforce by setting high goals and then delegating Department of Elementary and Second Education staff, authority, listening to your employees, making it safe to but instead reflects the agency’s institutional enforcement take risks, being generous with praise, encouraging col- role; it’s hard to change human behavior if the person laboration, and using data in a constructive way to know being helped is not at ease with the potential helper. what works and what doesn’t. State policies applying these Given the right kind of help, the great majority of princi- principles to superintendents would mean avoiding micro- pals and teachers are capable of running great schools. This management and one-size-fits-all regulations from the begins with dramatically higher expectations for student state. Except in a handful of particularly badly managed performance; after a year or two, many teachers tell us that districts where the state should and does appoint receivers, their students are now performing at levels the teachers the relatively small staff at the Department of Elementary never before thought possible. It also means major changes and Secondary Education is unlikely to make better deci- in how teachers teach and principals lead, starting with hav- sions for each particular district than the principals and ing the class spend most of the day in small-group instruc- superintendents currently running those schools. tion—the teacher working with a small group of students State policy would be far more effective if it took the (at just their instructional level) while other students col- laborate on high-level center activities, such as group discussion of text (including making predictions, asking questions, State should avoid looking for evidence, and picking out the main ideas), sepa- rating fact from opinion (1st grade!); and debating topics one-size-fits-all regs. like genetically modified food (starting in grade 3!). advice of the authors of the Brightlines report—“You can’t Contrary to popular perception, great teachers are mandate excellence; you can only inspire it!” The state could made, not born. Investing in teachers pays! People choose inspire excellence by creating a competitive state grant pro- teaching because they care about kids; teachers will try out gram for districts that offered significant, long-term funding new approaches if they feel listened to and have evidence to superintendents who have exciting ideas for investing in that these approaches work. Principals who understand their teachers and their schools. My suggestion would be and respect these truths can move their teachers. The Bay $250,000 per school, with a modest local contribution. This State Reading Insitute asks principals in its partner schools would be one-time money that the superintendent would to discuss individual student data with teachers, including have four years to spend and, once awarded, could not be what they plan to do help students who fall behind and taken away by the state or diverted by the school commit- what help they might need. In the most successful schools, tee. Over the course of a decade, $50 million a year of state the principal knows the pedagogy she’s looking for, spends funding (just 1 percent of the $5 billion in state funds spent an hour or two in classes most days, and makes very spe- annually on K-12 education) would be sufficient to offer this cific requests to teachers as to improvements she’d like to one-time transformational opportunity to every school in see. As part of this process, teachers begin discussing with the Commonwealth. each other all of the students in their grade level and begin Another way to motivate superintendents would be to working together to make sure every child (not just strug- waive state mandates for districts that offer compelling plans glers but also gifted students) reaches his or her potential. of their own. Mandates typically link state funding to spe- Once they see that the focus is on helping students (and cific policies; for example, a state literacy program last year not punishing teachers), teachers are comfortable with required that, as a condition of receiving funds, districts use these discussions, and we have not had union resistance. specific literacy materials, regardless of whether the materi- School districts need additional funding to make the als are consistent with the literacy program the district has necessary investment. When budgets are tight, investment adopted or whether it was achieving good results. in better teaching—be it purchasing new textbooks, hiring I’d offer to waive just about any state mandate, as long instructional coaches, making time for teachers to plan as the superintendent has a compelling idea for change, has together, or bringing in outside partners—is the first area indicated specific educational goals such a waiver would cut. Few districts—particularly high-poverty districts— advance, and is willing to submit data to measure progress. have the funds they need to make these investments. Sadly, This would put the emphasis on the district’s success in though, additional state funds that districts could use only improving student performance (and the superintendent’s for investment (preferably, only for investment and not leadership in this area), rather than on micro-managing operations) are not on anyone’s priority list. how a superintendent runs her district. Current state education policies do not reflect these The combination of long-term funding dedicated to lessons and are unlikely to succeed. As any successful investment in better teaching and the opportunity to high-tech entrepreneur understands, you motivate an edu- replace rigid state mandates with locally designed pro-

60 CommonWealth FALL 2016 perspectives

grams to improve teaching will be a powerful motivator to the state’s best superintendents. For this to be successful, we’d need a rigorous but open- minded assessment of the improvement plans superin- headlines tendents put forward. It could be modeled on the high- quality evaluation process the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education built for its Priority Partner from program, which includes well-respected outside reviewers. Keeping in mind the critical role of district leadership, let’s take a look at the major education improve- across ment policies currently in place: • State education officials have an excellent program to mentor new superintendents. The program has engaged the state. some of the most respected retired superintendents in the state, who serve as coaches for new superintendents. The program should continue and be supported. • Massachusetts should retain a modest amount of statewide testing to make sure we catch those schools that fall hopelessly behind, but the amount of testing we do analysis now is way out of proportion to the benefit. I’d test as little as possible in grades 3,5,6, and 7, and keep no more than four hours of testing in grades 4, 8, and 10. Through 2015, to make schools spread testing over two whole months; during those months, when tests were being conducted, teachers who normally were assigned to provide extra help to sense of it. struggling students stopped those services so they could be test monitors. Test results also aren’t available until the following fall—too late to help teachers improve instruction for the students in front of them. As currently constructed, the state reports on standardized test results tell us very little about the quality of The teaching in any school. They tell us that students in, for example, Wellesley and Lexington have higher scores than students in Boston or Springfield. That’s not surprising given that, on average, students entering kindergarten in DOWN high-poverty districts start school well behind. Unless we know where students started (in the fall of kindergarten, not, as is now the case, in third grade), we have no idea ALOAD news roundup how effective teaching actually is. When you compare scores of low-income students in urban communities with of politics and scores of the relatively few low-income students in the public policy suburbs, the scores are very similar, but the state reports don’t make that clear. Indeed, we have had visitors to Bay State Reading Institute schools whose own children are in FREE to sign up! suburban systems tell us that the teaching they see in our urban districts is better than what their own kids get— even though test scores in their own district may be higher. The current system unfairly demonizes thousands of urban district teachers who are working their hearts out Contact: Bruce Mohl at to help the neediest kids and whose results are just as good as, if not better than, suburban schools when you adjust [email protected] for where their students started. The so-called growth scores published by the state would appear to reflect

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 61 perspectives

these adjustments, but they don’t because the starting point who will remain in regular district schools. But the charter is third grade and not kindergarten. The current system debate sucks up all of the legislative and journalistic energy assumes that what happens between kindergarten and third available to discuss school change, so no serious atten- grade doesn’t matter when in fact the opposite is true. When tion is given to investing in teachers and principals—even schools succeed, the improvement starts in kindergarten though there is strong evidence that doing so pays. and then moves like a wave through succeeding grades. Massachusetts officials currently mandate that all dis- Of course, good schools need testing to help teachers tricts use the same state-designed teacher evaluation and the principal know which kids are falling behind and system. While well-intentioned, the system has become which interventions are working. A well-run district will time-consuming and bureaucratic. In a school where all have quick, formative assessments administered regularly students take regular formative assessments, where the during the year. The much shorter state assessment I’d like principal meets regularly with teachers to discuss individ- to see should be used to narrow the state’s attention to the ual student data, and where the principal visits classrooms relatively few districts where it needs to intervene. There’s on a daily basis, the principal already knows which one little evidence that standardized tests have improved peda- or two teachers should be considered for dismissal, and gogy, and plenty of evidence that they’ve reduced substan- which other teachers have plenty of potential but need a tially the time available for instruction. bit of help. Principals in schools like this tell me that the Many people who, like me, think we do too much test- paperwork in the state system takes away from the time ing link this to Common Core, which they oppose. But they have available to work with their teachers. Common Core is a very good set of standards for what For the great majority of districts, the one-size-fits all, students should be learning; it is not the same as the tests. paper-heavy state mandates and the overuse of testing In English language arts, the emphasis is on having stu- are unlikely to improve the quality of instruction. This dents read text for meaning, ask critical questions, look for does not mean that what districts are now doing is good evidence, pick out main ideas, and use material to articu- enough—far from it. If we want to use state policy as an late their own ideas. Having this new, well-thought-out, engine for school improvement, we need a smarter strat- national standard has gotten teachers’ attention in a posi- egy. We need a strategy designed to bring out the best in tive way. Having Massachusetts on the same page as other teachers and principals. Such a system would build on an states means we now have access to curriculum materials understanding of the critical importance of strong educa- designed specifically for the standards we’re teaching to. tional leadership by superintendents and principals and I applaud the state for its support of Common Core; would work to strengthen and inspire that leadership by I doubt that people who’ve actually visited a Common carefully designed financial incentives and waivers from Core classroom object to the teaching they saw there. state mandates. For me, the charter schools debate misses the most important question. The state currently has 4.2 percent Edward Moscovitch is the executive director and cofounder of of students in charters and that number would rise to 14 the Bay State Reading Institute. As a consultant to the Business percent in a decade if the referendum passes. What mat- Alliance for Education, he formerly helped draft and pass the ters more is what we do for the 86 percent of our students 1993 Education Reform Law.

Baker’s big health care move Revamping MassHealth offers great potential — and great risks. by john e. mcdonough for the third time since 1996, the Massachusetts Medicaid 40 percent of Massachusetts children); second, guarantee program, called MassHealth, is preparing for transforma- a five-year flow of nearly $8 billion in extra federal dollars tion. After submitting a final proposal in July, state officials into the state’s health care system; and third, better integrate are anxiously awaiting a decision on the plan from the US substance abuse, mental health, and long-term services and Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. The goals are supports into traditional medical care. to: first, transform how medical services are delivered to Chances are you have heard nothing about this plan many of MassHealth’s 1.86 million enrollees (including that contains many worthy and some controversial chang-

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es. For state leaders, the stakes are high. Between 1997 and ers to be “budget neutral,” states use creative medical and 2015, MassHealth’s share of the overall state budget dou- insurance redesigns to obtain substantial and desirable bled from 18 percent to 36 percent—with federal dollars financial flexibility. Massachusetts Medicaid entered the accounting for more than half of the total share. At $16.4 1115 game in 1997 with a major coverage expansion that billion in fiscal year 2017, MassHealth is the state’s biggest transformed it into today’s MassHealth. Baker, then secre- budget buster and most important lifeline for the state’s tary of administration and finance under Gov. Bill Weld, neediest populations. The new federal proposal represents was a key architect. Gov. Charlie Baker’s attempt to slow the growth rate while Since that time, Massachusetts’s improving medical care and the health of enrollees. 1115 waiver, now in its sixth itera- For those who have been awaiting the Baker adminis- tion, has brought flexibility and extra tration’s big health policy move, this may be it. dollars to support the state’s medical infrastructure for disadvantaged WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? populations, chiefly through Boston Since 1965, Medicaid has been a federal-state partnership Medical Center, Cambridge Health that provides health coverage for low-income Americans. Alliance, and the state’s community health centers. It was Originally just for poor mothers and kids on public assis- the threatened loss of those extra federal dollars ($385 mil- tance, today it is America’s largest health insurance pro- lion in 2004) that jolted then-Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. gram, covering more than 70 million people. The federal Ted Kennedy to formulate the plan leading to passage of government provides most of the money, and sets tight the landmark 2006 Massachusetts Universal Health Care rules governing how states run their programs. States can law, which in turn helped spark passage of the 2010 federal get flexibility from those rules by obtaining waivers from Affordable Care Act. the federal government, the most pliable being the “Section The state’s current 1115 funding ends in June 2017, 1115 research & demonstration waiver,” generally granted and Baker administration officials, especially Secretary for 3-5 year terms. Even though federal rules require waiv- of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and

MassINC has recruited 25 New England educators to comprise the Next Generation Accountability Learning Community (NGALC) for small to mid-sized school districts. Through in depth conversations with prominent education policy experts and fellow educators, members of the NGALC will become better equipped to influence and develop evidence-based policies that employ innovations in accountability to improve student outcomes. For more information, visit www.massinc.org/NGALC

FALL 2016 CommonWealth 63 perspectives

MassHealth chief Daniel Tsai, are eager to lock in the next managed care organizations or ACOs by curbing benefits waiver—and the nearly $8 billion over five years—before such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, and chiropractic or orthotic Team Obama departs in January. Since arriving on Beacon care and imposing new out-of-pocket costs on unwilling Hill in January 2015, Team Baker has engaged in intensive enrollees who choose to stay with the PCC program. planning with stakeholders, including consumer advo- This aspect concerns patients, advocates, and medical cates, hospitals, physicians, insurers, and more. State lead- groups. Though ACOs have grown rapidly since 2010, ers want federal approval by early fall. If federal officials their track record in reducing costs and in improving like their plan—and Team Baker is hitting notes Team quality has been modest, and their future is a topic of Obama wants to hear—they may get their wish. urgent debate among health policy experts. Some data suggest that PCC enrollees are no more expensive than WHATS’S THE PLAN? managed care enrollees. Many PCC enrollees have seri- The state’s application outlines five goals for the new five- ous, complex medical needs that can be poorly served year waiver that would begin in 2017: by Medicaid managed care organizations with exclusive • Enact payment and delivery system reforms that pro- provider networks. mote integrated, coordinated care and hold providers On the other side, encouraging states to jump into accountable for the quality and total cost of care. ACO-style “value-based payment”—and away from • Improve integration of physical health, behavioral uncoordinated and unmanaged fee-for-service care—is health, long-term services and supports, and health-related among the highest priorities of federal officials such as social services. US Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. • Maintain near-universal coverage. If Massachusetts wants any hope of keeping the $8 billion • Sustainably support safety net providers to ensure in extra federal dollars flowing, they need to excite federal continued access to care for Medicaid and low-income officials with ambitious designs of this variety. uninsured individuals. The second goal—integrating physical health, behav- • Address the opioid addiction crisis by expanding access ioral health (the combined term for mental health and to a broad spectrum of recovery-focused substance abuse substance abuse treatment), long-term services and sup- disorder services. ports (the new term of art for long-term care), and health- The most controversial goal is the first: inducing Mass- related social services—is a major health system improve- Health medical providers (hospitals, physician groups, ment goal advocated nationally and in Massachusetts by home health agencies, community providers, and post- many, especially Sudders, a former clinical social worker acute providers such as rehabilitation hospitals and nurs- and state mental health commissioner who has long fought ing homes) to form or expand “accountable care organiza- to demolish medical care siloes. tions” (ACOs) to assume responsibility for the total cost of Under the new waiver, new MassHealth ACOs will be care for their MassHealth members. required to build partnerships with certified “community ACOs were invented in the Affordable Care Act to partner” organizations that provide behavioral health plus push providers away from fee-for-service payments that long-term services and supports while managing the total tend to reward volume over quality and efficiency. Since cost of care of their enrollees. Providers will operate with 2010, more than 800 ACOs have formed across the per-person capitated payments that require improving the nation in Medicare, private coverage, and, increasingly, health and well-being of enrollee populations rather than Medicaid, with 17 states now using ACOs or looking to just treating sick patients, a paradigm-shift for providers do so. In 2012, in that year’s health care cost control law trained to care—and bill—for one patient at a time. signed by then-Gov. Deval Patrick, the Legislature directed In response to health care providers worried about MassHealth to move quickly to adopt “alternative pay- adapting to this new system, state officials emphasize the ment models” such as ACOs. So the new waiver will enable five-year transition to an ACO-centered MassHealth set to MassHealth to meet both federal objectives as well as its launch October 1, 2017. They also note that the $8 billion legislative mandate. in federal waiver money will include $1.8 billion in addi- Currently, about 840,000 of MassHealth’s 1.86 million tional federal payments (called Delivery System Reform enrollees obtain care through one of the state’s Medicaid Incentive Payments) specifically to help providers under- managed care organizations such as Neighborhood Health take the transition. Plan or Boston Medical Center’s Health Net. About 383,000 others participate in the loosely managed Primary Care LET THE GAMES BEGIN—OR NOT Clinician (PCC) program. The rest, especially seniors and Opaque is a word often applied to 1115 waivers, one the persons with disabilities, are in fee-for-service. MassHealth Obama administration has attempted to replace with officials want to push as many PCC enrollees as possible into “transparent.” States must now conduct open public hear-

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ings on new waiver applications and make public all sorts Leann’s letter gives voice to the concerns advocates of information relating to 1115 applications. MassHealth’s have raised about the waiver plan. In 2013, MassHealth information, including the application, is here: mass. launched another ambitious demonstration to move gov/eohhs/gov/departments/masshealth/masshealth-and- their disabled enrollees into a new managed care pro- health-care-reform.html gram called One Care. Though One Care has made Noteworthy are 94 stakeholder letters submitted in substantial improvements in quality, only about 13,000 July, 400 pages of praise and criticism from organizations of 115,000 MassHealth eligible enrollees have signed up large (Massachusetts Hospital Association, Massachusetts after a rocky implementation (see “No time to go wob- Medical Society) and small (Home Care Aide Council, bly on One Care,” CW, Fall 2015). The new 1115 waiver Autism Housing Pathways). One letter from Leann is even more ambitious and dicey. Many PCC enrollees DiDomenico, the mother of a 12-year-old adopted foster and their families have painstakingly built personal pro- child, caught my eye: vider networks to address their serious and unique needs. “My son...spent the first three years of his life in an ACO implementation risks serious disruption for them. abusive birth home followed by 18 months in three MassHealth should offer these individuals and families a different foster homes leaving him with a number of no-penalty “opt-out” until this experiment proves itself. behavioral health issues, including PTSD and reactive Baker’s 1115 waiver plan includes major steps forward attachment disorder (RAD). Over the past seven years my for Massachusetts health care that may pay important husband and I have worked hard alongside [his] primary dividends well into the future. Until they have demon- care provider and various therapists to help [him] to heal strated the capacity to implement this without harming and develop the tools he needs to live a full, productive any of their enrollees, they should proceed with more life in spite of his mental health issues. If/when [he] is caution. transitioned to an ACO, I have no confidence that we will be able to keep the professionals we currently have in John E McDonough teaches at the Harvard TH Chan School place that are working well for [him].” of Public Health and blogs at healthstew.com.

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Charter showdown A charter school leader and teachers union president debate the ballot question

in november, massachusetts voters will have their say on a ballot question that would allow up to 12 new or expanded charter schools each year above of the existing state cap on the indepen- dently-run, but publicly-funded, schools. The issue has inflamed passions on both sides. We asked two prominent Boston education leaders, Jon Clark, co-director of Brooke Charter Schools, who supports Question 2, and Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, who opposes it, to weigh in. Over the course of several days they exchanged views by email.

JONLARK C WRITES: We can have more of these game-changing Throughout our nation’s history, our schools have public schools. Each one will provide opportunity failed to adequately educate to families of low-income students and students of our students of color and our color. And each one will contribute to the effort in low-income students. That our urban districts to address this crisis with the remains true today. sense of urgency and resolve that it demands of us. In Boston and in other large cities across our country, RICHARD STUTMAN RESPONDS: our schools face obstacles that Our public school system is our most important suburban schools do not, due resource—on that we probably agree. Our task is to poverty and our nation’s enduring legacy of rac- to improve and support our public school system ism. But we, as a society, must accept responsibility while maintaining its basic premise to offer a free for the fact that we have not adequately risen to and equal education to all who walk through its those challenges. In Boston, on the 2015 PARCC, doors. white students scored proficient at three times the Our schools face many challenges, not the least rate of black students in math and at twice the rate of of which is working with those most in need—those black students in reading. We continue to routinely most vulnerable—to gain the skills and knowledge fail our low-income students and our students of they need to become produc- color. Too many of us have become far too compla- tive, thoughtful members of cent about that reality. society. We welcome those In Boston and in other cities across the Com- challenges and deserve no spe- monwealth, charter public schools are helping to cial credit. It’s our responsibil- answer that challenge. Numerous independent ity to educate all. Many charter studies have shown that students in these schools schools avoid that responsi- are effectively closing racial and income-based bility by cherry-picking their achievement gaps. That is why tens of thousands students by a variety of not-so-subtle methods. Our of families are on charter public school waiting lists public schools do not discriminate. in Massachusetts. Those families desperately want Parents recognize that we have a system of nothing more than to provide their children with excellent and improving schools. The waiting list a great education. for Boston parents seeking a spot in the Boston

ILLUSTRATION BY ALISON SEIFFER FALL 2016 CommonWealth 67 argument & counterpoint

Public Schools last year exceeded 21,000. It was an accu- have chosen to service a selective subgroup of students. rate list and in fact it exceeded the number of people await- Brooke’s schools educate few students with disabilities ing Massachusetts charter seats that are housed in Boston. and even fewer who are English language learners (ELLs) We need to support our schools and keep public dol- than a representative enrollment of Boston students would lars in the Boston Public Schools working to serve all. require. Our public schools serve a student demographic, This year the city stands to lose more than $150 million 30 percent of whom are ELLs; Brooke’s ELL population is in funding from the state to Boston-based charters, most 6 percent. Regarding students with disabilities, our public of whom practice discriminatory admission policies. schools’ demographic is 20 percent; Brooke’s is 8 percent. We need to keep public resources in our public schools. How does Brooke rationalize this disparity? Why should Our students, a majority of whom are low-income and we allow schools that discriminate and cherry-pick their students of color, and one-third of whom are English students to expand? language learners, deserve no less. All students are important, students with disabilities and English language learners alike. Charters should JONLARK C RESPONDS: open their doors to all, work to retain all, and join with We agree that the premise of public education is to pro- us to provide the best we can both offer. vide a free, high-quality education to all. But our city and To prove the point: Since July 2016 the Boston Public our country have never lived up to that premise. We have Schools have accepted more than 150 children with spe- historically and systematically not provided an equal or cial needs who have transferred in from Boston-based adequate education to low-income students and students charters. Those aren’t numbers—they’re children. These of color. The fact that there are waiting lists for some children deserve to be educated. Until all children get the Boston Public Schools proves that many low-income education they deserve from charters, every dollar lost families and families of color are acutely aware that their from our public schools is a drain on what should be an kids aren’t currently receiving the education they need education for all. and deserve. That is why charter public schools have been a critical JONLARK C RESPONDS: addition to our public schooling system. Charter schools Boston charter public schools attract families who have are public schools that provide opportunity to chil- been denied access to educational opportunity—particu- dren of families who have historically been denied it. larly black and Latino families. Do you not believe that the Charter school students are not “cherry-picked.” MIT and district has an obligation to better educate our black and Harvard studies long ago debunked those allegations, Latino kids? For each of the last 10 years, Boston English proving conclusively that selection bias cannot explain language learner students have outperformed African- the high achievement of low-income students and stu- American students on the math MCAS/PARCC test. dents of color in charter public schools. In Boston charters, 17 percent of students are in special The funding that goes to Boston charters educates education programs and 14 percent are identified as English kids who desperately need and deserve a great public language learners. But charters aren’t monolithic. For every education. It’s the same amount per student that goes to Brooke Roslindale Charter School (2.5 percent ELL) there educate students in the Boston Public Schools. As one of is Match charter schools (33 percent ELL). There is wide our parents said the other day, “my child is not a drain variation among charters, just as there is in district schools on the system.” The opportunity to send her child to a (none of which you accuse of discriminatory enrollment charter public school has allowed her and parents like her practices—even those that are disproportionately white!). to empower themselves and to ensure that their children ELL status (and to some extent special education sta- get the education they wholly deserve, but have histori- tus) should not be a permanent badge. Brooke opened cally been denied. a new campus in 2012 to serve more English language learners. Over 50 percent of Brooke East Boston students RICHARD STUTMAN RESPONDS: are now or were formerly identified as English language We agree that our mission is to provide a free, high- learners. But, for every Brooke child who is currently quality education to all. But charters fail to live up to identified as an English language learner, there are three that promise; at charters “education to all” has become who have exited ELL status. In the Boston Public Schools, “education for some.” Charters do show decent results on current English language learners outnumber former a single standardized test, as we do—though using any ELL’s by 2:1. single measure to gauge achievement has limited reli- A recent MIT study found that in Boston, special edu- ability and use. The more important question is to look cation and ELL students are making substantially more beyond the single test and ask ourselves whether charters progress in charter public schools than in district public

68 CommonWealth FALL 2016 argument & counterpoint

schools. At Brooke, ELL and special education students to bring this about. And even though charters corrected are out-performing regular education students in the dis- course a bit, they still avoid and counsel out children who trict. Shouldn’t that kind of progress be the goal for all of are more challenging and expensive to teach. At the East our kids who our city has historically never served well? Boston Brooke and Excel charter schools, for example, there are 130 English language learners enrolled. Only RICHARD STUTMAN RESPONDS: one student of 130 (0.8 percent) is enrolled at either Level I don’t buy the argument that it’s acceptable to discriminate 1 or 2 (of 5), which are the most challenging levels. In the and cherry-pick students in order to obtain a higher MCAS Boston public schools, it’s 14 percent. test score. The goals of equal access and high achievement Charters’ progress has been too little, too late. That’s are not mutually exclusive. The BPS strives for both. why we need to keep our public dollars in public schools, The Boston Public Schools take a back seat to no one and avoid promoting the expansion of schools that dis- in urban America, according to NAEP test results in criminate. math and reading across the same subgroups you mention. See www.bostonpublicschools.org/Page/714. We JON CLARK RESPONDS: also practice equal access. Our schools don’t counsel out Data simply don’t support your recycled assertions. Depart- poor-performing students. We welcome them. ment of Elementary and Secondary Education data show We’re not arguing that charters don’t achieve some that attrition is significantly lower in charters than in dis- success on the MCAS—but it comes at a cost of denying trict schools; charters don’t counsel kids out. State analysis equal access to all. And that’s a price our public schools shows that charter English language learner enrollment are not willing to pay. “has steadily increased and is now approaching the enroll- It’s great that charters have finally begun to look at ment at Boston district schools”; charters don’t discrimi- increasing enrollments of English language learners and nate. A recent MIT study finds: “Those with the most severe students with disabilities. It’s unfortunate, however, that it needs…perform significantly better in charters”; charter took 20 years and the 2010 Achievement Gap legislation schools don’t “avoid” kids.

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FALL 2016 CommonWealth 69 argument & counterpoint

Despite the evidence, you insist that enrollment at years of random enrollment by lottery, allegedly a guar- charter schools is inequitable. Why then don’t you join antee of “equal and open” access to charters, more than us in advocating for a common enrollment system in 95 percent of city students with high and severe needs Boston? Let’s have charter schools and district schools remain in the Boston Public Schools rather than charters. enroll kids using the same rules under the same system. Not even the 2010 Achievement Act has motivated You have yet to answer my question about our respon- charters to recruit and retain students who need additional sibility to our black and Latino kids, but insist that all services. Please tell us how these discriminatory policies is well in Boston: BPS “takes a backseat to no one.” I’m support your claim that charters help black and Latino sure the thousands of Boston charter school parents (and children. And please tell us how suspending 5-year-old those wait-listed) will disagree. The families I know are all children for failing to walk in a straight line improves too aware of the ragingly disparate educational achieve- learning. Or how “encouraging” students to leave prior to ment of our city’s students by race. You and I couldn’t MCAS season provides “equal access.” Admit it: In their disagree more on that point. quest to boost MCAS score results, charters will stop at no But when it comes down to it, our disagreement is tactic, regardless of how it hurts children. irrelevant. My job is to help operate great schools. Your And enough of your claims to a huge wait list job is to serve the members of your union. Neither of us already! The wait list to get a seat of preference in the BPS should get to decide which schools are good enough for is twice as long as the much-discredited charter wait list. By other people’s children. Let’s empower those families to the way, our wait list is real: no ghosts, no double dipping. vote with their feet and settle the disagreement for us. Finally, we do play different roles. Yours is to prop up a selective, dual system and increase the $450 million cur- RICHARD STUTMAN RESPONDS rently spent on charters, which practice discrimination. My data and assertions may be recycled, but that doesn’t My job is to make sure that our improving public schools, make them any less true. Charters do discriminate and which provide equal access, retain resources to help all cherry-pick their students. How else to explain that in 20 students, including those charters refuse to educate.

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70 CommonWealth FALL 2016 book review

Mending the social fabric Yuval Levin wants us to knit back together the pieces that make up the American dream.

The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism By Yuval Levin New York: Basic Books 262 pages

reviewed by john schneider

spend some time in West Virginia or Kentucky a book with big, bold themes. But beware: Levin and you begin to understand why Donald Trump is prone to generalizing about the conditions and has made it so far as a candidate for president. circumstances that have led us to today. Making America great again sells well in the com- Levin is one of the country’s leading conser- munities of those Appalachian states. Jobs in coal vative intellectuals and founder and editor of mining, never an easy living but work that at least National Affairs, a leading journal of politics and paid a decent wage, are disappearing as mines close policy that is well worth having on your reading down. During a recent visit, a school principal told list. Fractured Republic attempts to explain the me with sadness in her voice that once the last coal forces that are tearing the nation apart. Can we mine closed in her county, the Walmart super- be great again? Yes, says Levin, but only if we as store became the region’s largest employer. There a nation turn away from a “political life [that] is were simply not enough good jobs to go around, now exceedingly nostalgic” and work toward a and that was having a devastating impact on more modern form of governance that he calls her school—big increases in behavioral problems, “subsidiarity,” a place where power and authority more depression, more students needing a meal are “as close to the level of the interpersonal com- and other necessities, and more students afraid munity as reasonably possible.” to go home for the weekend. Chaos had replaced America has lost its way because the two major community, and hope for a better future is all but political parties keep offering us policies and gone among her neighbors. politics mired in the past. Nostalgia, he says, “is Being in Appalachia during the presidential at the core of the frustration that so overwhelms primaries opened my eyes to a country that I did our politics right now.” Our problems are real, not know. I wanted a deeper explanation beyond but our answers seem “disconnected from reality.” the usual knee jerk reaction about Trump sup- Too many Americans have yet to transition to the porters—many of them good people caught up in post-industrial economy, the benefits of which forces beyond their control. This drew me to Yuval accrue to some but certainly not all. Levin’s The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s The response of our political parties to the Social Contract in the Age of Individualism. Levin’s economic anxieties many Americans face, Levin book wrestles in a very serious way with the issues says, has been woefully inadequate. “Democrats that Trump (and Bernie Sanders as well) has been talk about public policy as though it were always eager to exploit—inequality, the failure of our 1965 and the model of the Great Society welfare institutions, the power of a small elite class, the state will answer our every concern,” he writes. decline of the middle class. Levin is tough on the “And Republicans talk as though it were always politicians anchored to policies no longer relevant 1981 and a repetition of the Reagan Revolution for today’s challenges and on the civic institutions is the cure for what ails us.” The result is a public responsible for social and economic mobility. It’s more frustrated and more cynical about politics.

FALL 2014 CommonWealth 71 book review

We long for a return to what Levin describes as the golden Levin says that our political institutions are not age of post-World War II America. equipped to deal with these current challenges and “are all Many Americans did indeed prosper during that peri- in varying states of dysfunction.” The result is a decline in od. My dad, who at 88 still receives his monthly pension public trust and a growing “detachment from some core check after a career with General Electric, was one. The sources of social order and meaning,” such as the family, system worked for our family. He bought a nice house on the labor force (especially among men and those without one income, sent five kids to college, and bought a small a college education), and community institutions, espe- condo in Florida for his retirement. During his working cially religious institutions. Power is less centralized, but life, both political parties shared a consensus view on how wealth and poverty have become more concentrated in to keep the nation strong, stable, and prosperous. what he says is “bifurcated concentration” (what most of But for many Americans, the 1950s and 1960s were us call inequality). We have become a society of individu- not so great. Blacks, Hispanics, women, and gays all were als within a national state, a condition that has altered not excluded from the progress being made and needed to only our politics but our civic institutions, contributing to fight for the social and economic opportunities that they the decline of the middle class. felt rightly entitled to. During the 1970s, recessions hit Levin argues that we need to adopt local solutions to the nation hard as the rest of the world caught up to us the complex problems we face, a time-honored conserva- economically. Global economic changes brought disillusionment about American exceptionalism and, with it, nostalgia for For many, the 1950s and a better time. As trust in our civic and cul- tural institutions continued their decline, 60s were not so great. often exacerbated by the rise in individualism—or narcis- tive approach that he has dubbed “subsidiarity.” He states, sism, as Levin categorizes it—the institutions that make up “Honing an inclination to subsidiarity would offer us a American civil society failed to adequately respond. “The way of thinking about solving problems together that forces underlying the confidence and optimism of the begins in the neighborhood, in the church, in the school, postwar era seemed to be failing all at once,” argues Levin. in the community, and builds up.” Subsidiarity, he would Political parties responded by diffusing power and have us believe, combined with power devolved to the loosening regulatory restrictions on businesses to com- states, will revitalize civic culture, strengthen social capi- pete in an increasingly highly competitive global economy tal, and help restore the middle class. (i.e., the Reagan Revolution and declarations that “the era No doubt creating more social capital is needed. But how of big government is over”). The economic advantages do we balance local initiative with the will, resources, and that provided opportunity to many Americans no longer capacity to reform our institutions? How do we respond existed. The economies of other nations had recovered when states don’t act in the best interest of their citizens? and changes in technology and an increasingly shrinking Giving states more leeway to solve public problems world meant that we now faced more global competition has been, since the founding of the republic, one of the than we had faced in decades. These changes, global in great sources of conflict in American politics. As we are nature and beyond our control, meant that American reminded by the lessons of American history, relying on institutions began to lose the coherence, cohesion, and the states doesn’t always work as planned. It was not that public trust that kept us prosperous. Political consen- long ago that the federal government had to step forward sus evaporated and, as Robert Putnam and others have to assert voting rights for all, a pillar of citizenship that, argued, we entered a period of declining “social capital.” left to the states, had become a tool of white segregation- It is the decline of social capital that is at the center ists in the South to maintain power. of the fragmentation that afflicts us today. “Declines in In this fragmented age we are quick to reject national social capital,” Levin argues, “tend to be self-intensifying: solutions to national problems. But for too many Americans, as people come to have less in common with their fellow government and institutions at all levels have failed them. citizens, they find it more difficult to cooperate and iden- The Fractured Republic offers plenty of valuable insights in tify with one another, which brings a further weakening its analysis of what ails us. In the end, though, despite his of remaining social bonds.” The decline in social capital, a scorn for those clinging to outmoded ways, Levin himself process which took several decades, has resulted in “sharp seems nostalgic for an approach that will, I’m afraid, still bifurcations in one area of American life after another— leave many of our fellow citizens behind. with people at the top moving higher and higher, and those at the bottom moving lower and lower, while the middle John Schneider is director of policy and advocacy for a national hollowed out.” education reform organization based in Boston.

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